The Daily Struggles of Nanoka Arakita
by chinchilla donut
Summary: Her calligraphy club is dying, she's failing English, and her mom is adamant on turning her into a Stepford housewife. Nanoka doesn't have the time for teenage boys, but somehow they find a way to wedge themselves into her life anyway. Eventual [variousxOC]
1. Grimacing Girl

Kitagawa Daiichi Middle School

**April**

"Excuse me! Please let us through!"

"I can't see the board at all..."

"Maybe we can get sneak in through the side?"

There is a crowd of students in front of the school announcement board. Middle schoolers jump around and shove at each other to get to the front. It was the beginning of the school year, and friends and classmates are randomized into separate classes. Everyone is both eager and anxious of the new class assignments. One second year brunette is especially vicious and jabs at people's stomachs to get to the front. She scrutinizes the class roster in front of her before squealing and scrambles underneath the arms of other students before anyone catches her for her sharp-elbowed antics.

She reappears outside the mass of students, bouncing up to another girl who is waiting for her for results. The brunette continues to bounce in place and announce chipperly,

"Nanocchi, we're in the same class!" The taller girl, so called Nanocchi, raises her hands for a high five and receives a stinging slap to the palms. "I'm so excited! I wonder who our homeroom teacher will be?" The other girl shrugs, linking her arm with the jittery girl. The step into motion towards the equally crowded school entrance.

"Maybe Wakamatsu-sensei again."

"Boooring. We should totally get a hot new teacher. Like in that drama 'After School Love Story'? Tearjerker alert!"

"That's a romance between a high schooler and recent college graduate. We're 14, Haru, and a romance between us and a teacher would be very, very illegal." Haru makes a half hearted boo but a grin plasters back onto her face.

"Party pooper! Whatever. We can enjoy a forbidden romance in high school then."

The taller girl bumps shoulders with a tall dark haired boy, stopping both of them in their track. She apologizes, and at the same time notices the little badge on his blazer pocket. _A first year_. He nods in acknowledgment before resuming his walk towards the still overcrowded message board. She turned back to Haru, who is making leery eyes at the boy walking away. "Right. In high school then." Haru recoils before turning towards her with a gape.

"What? Are you doubting my teacher seducing abilities? I'll show you! Our gym teacher is so crushing on me! The other day . . ." They fall back into a comfortable stride towards the school. Nanocchi rolled her eyes.

"Nooooo, our gym teacher totally has a girlfriend and . . ."

Their voices eventually get swallowed by the student mass once more by the school entrance.

This story will center around Nanocchi, whose birth name is Arakita Nanoka (荒北七日), a second year at Kita Daiichi Junior High along with her friend, Haru, which is one of many nicknames for Kichijou Chiharu(吉上千春). Chiharu will eventually attend a different high school and they will lose touch, but at the moment, they are stuck together at the hip.

Nanoka is a fourteen year old born on the seventh of July (hence her name, which means 'the seventh day'), raised in Miyagi. She has an older brother, but he's attending a middle school in Tokyo, therefore physically absent from the story (though not irrelevant).

The boy who just bumped into her may just be another freshmen to her, but Kageyama Tobio will become an important person in Nanoka's youth. Just, not yet.

-.-.-

Chiharu and Nanoka arrive at their new classroom and receive their new seating assignment.

"This is an apostrophe! We have Wakamatsu-sensei again and not only that, we're sitting FIVE. ROWS. APART." Chiharu wails dramatically. Their homeroom teacher quips from a meter away.

"That hurts my feelings, Kichijou-kun. It's also atrocity, not apostrophe." Chiharu scoffs and waves his comments aside.

"Details, details." Wakamatsu-sensei huffs before slapping the handouts against the chalkboard.

"Everyone get to your seats! Homeroom is starting!" A voice cries out.

"But the bell didn't ring yet!"

"No complaints! This year's Wakamatsu-sensei is reborn! He is stricter and meaner and tougher! Hahaha!" Everyone grumbles and shuffles around to their assigned seats. Exchanging winks with Chiharu, Nanoka slinks her way to her seat on the opposite end of the room by the hallway windows. Once everyone settles, they stand and bow in unison when the bell finally chimes.

"Good morning." They chorus. Standing in front of the classroom, Wakamatsu-sensei grins.

How he missed this.

-.-.-

Classes were a breeze. They received the new textbooks for their new classes (geometry, English 2, chemistry, home economics, history, Japanese lit, so forth) and met some new teachers, though none were under thirty or even remotely attractive, much to Chiharu's disappointment. The last bell of the day rings, and students start packing their new books and notes. Chiharu hazardously shoves her belonging in her messenger bag and Nanoka grimaces at the sound of crinkling print outs. How her teachers never reprimand her about her neatness amazes her. Maybe Chiharu _does_ have teacher seducing skills.

Chiharu laughs at her.

"Nanocchi you're doing that face again." Nanoka's frown deepens, her left eye twitching. "Ahaha, you're just looking more and more like your brother!"

"I didn't ask for this face," Nanoka grumbles. Chiharu coos at her, giggling all the while.

They walk down to the shoe racks where they switch their indoor shoes for their outdoor shoes, and are about leave school property when Chiharu gasps.

"I forgot to ask when the volleyball tryouts are!" Nanoka groans, slapping her palm to her forehead before dragging it down, revealing an uglier grimace.

"Oh my god, I thought you promised to be over him this year and find someone else to have the hots for," The brunette makes a wiggle dance, hands clasped.

"But the other day I saw him practicing by himself at the park and I fell in love again with his dedication," Chiharu sighs dramatically. "I know we aren't meant to be though. I won't try anything. Ahhhh, if only this was a parallel universe where every boy in the world is in love with me!" Nanoka blinks, then bursts out laughing. She side-hugs Chiharu, who grins and embraces her back just as tightly.

How she missed this.

-.-.-

Kageyama Tobio first notices her on the first day of volleyball practice. Her's was the only grimacing face in the mass of blushing girls, therefore she stood out a whole lot. She obviously did not want to be there, but the arm of another girl linked tightly around hers lets her do otherwise. Oikawa Tooru arrives at the gym, waving at the girls. They scream, alerting Iwaizumi Hajime to Oikawa's arrival. Tobio's attention immediately diverts to Oikawa, and the grimacing girl's face gets pressed into the very corner of his mind.

Tobio notices her presence a few more time before she stops appearing altogether, though her friend religiously dropped by at every practice to cheer for Oikawa. Speaking of Oikawa... Tobio approaches the upperclassman, a ball in hand, determination in mind. Oikawa visibly twitches at the sight of the first year and Iwaizumi turn around.

"Oikawa-san, please teach me how to serve!"

-.-.-

Tobio is stuck at the library, trying to understand the importance of the pythagorean theorem because he sure as hell didn't care. His algebra class has a test coming up and it's not multiple choice, which means Tobio must show at least some work to get any points for the random numbers he's going to put down as an answer. His coach's voice pops up in his mind.

_ "I'm sure everyone is doing fine with their grades, but just as a reminder, if anyone fails more than two classes, they will be kicked out of their club to take supplementary lessons. This includes the Volleyball team, so be sure to keep your grades up."_

Tobio grips his pencil tightly.

The library is crowded, and seats open are immediately nabbed. His ears catch the screeching of a chair and he looks up to see the upperclassman across from him getting up and gathering his belongings. Tobio shuffles his pencil case and books closer to himself to make sure the older boy won't accidentally take any of his stuff. Tobio lowers his eyes back down to the practice problems his teacher gave the class to prep. It wasn't mandatory to hand this in, so he doesn't necessarily have to do this sheet, but he missed a few home works and he wants to get back onto the teacher's favored list. He grumbles to himself and scratches his head using the butt of his pencil.

Tobio chooses to ignore the shadows of people moving in front of him and continues to pour over the sheet. A few textbooks appear in his peripheral vision. _Japan's Historical Figures_ and _The Westernization of Japan: Perry to Present_. A notebook and pencil case is strewn before a slender hand tugs the _Japan's Historical Figures_ closer to them and fingers the pages open. Tobio's eyes unconsciously follows the hand up the arm to the neck to the face of-

'_Grimacing Girl_.'

Though Grimacing Girl is not currently grimacing, her crooked eyebrows and wispy hair are distinctive. Her eyebrows furrow and her lips purse as she peruses the table of contents. Tobio stares at her until she glances up, making him jolt in his seat. She eyes him, but finding him not all that interesting, she lowers her gaze back down to the page, though not as concentrated as before. Tobio's heart thumps fast and hard in his chest. They do not interact for the rest of the period, and when the bell rings, Grimacing Girl gathers her things and walks out of the library.

Tobio's heart still pumped blood that had traces of adrenaline from the brief encounter.

-.-.-

The test is in four days. Tobio has yet to complete the homework sheet. At this point, he doesn't even care about handing it in-he just wants to finish the last question and feel satisfied for once. He's been feeling irritated since Oikawa refuses to give him the time of day, Coach's reminder mocked him every time he looked at a volleyball, and he still hasn't made a single friend in class. Not that he cared, but it will be nice to be able to go over class works and assignments with someone-

"You're doing it wrong."

Tobio almost snaps his pencil in half. He swivels his head to where the voice came from.

Grimacing Girl is standing a meter away. Her expression was strained, lips tight and brown eyes narrowed. She clutches a literature texture to her chest. He finally finds his voice and he stutters,

"E-excuse me?" Grimacing Girl tucks a wisp of hair behind her ear, her nostrils flaring a little.

"The drawing. It's supposed to be a rectangle inside a triangle, not a triangle inside a rectangle." Tobio stares up at her.

"...oh."

"Yeah." Grimacing Girl looks ready to run, already edging away from the first year. Tobio does not understand this observation, and is enlightened with an idea. Grimacing Girl is obviously a second year because of the badge on her chest pocket, therefore she must have already taken the class he is currently taking. She even corrected him, which must mean he knows the subject well right? Right? Right!

"Um, well, I'll get goin-"

"Please wait!" Grimacing Girl habitually stands rigid at the yell. It sounded a lot louder than it was supposed to because the library is dead silent. Surrounding students throw Tobio either a puzzled stare or an angry glance. Tobio totally disregards the setting and continues to talk in a normal volume.

"You're good at math, aren't you?" Grimacing Girl's eyebrows shooting up, her mouth crooked to expose clenched teeth. She makes a quizzical smile.

"I guess?" Tobio's eyes shine. He grabs at the older girl's wrists, ignoring her sudden tenseness. His face is hardened.

"You need to teach me math. I need to pass this test."

Grimacing Girl blinks up at him (just a few centimeters taller, but he was practically leaning over her), eyebrows furrowed in thought. She opens her mouth but-

"Both of you, get out."

\- the librarian, seething, stands just a few meters away. Students with equally hard glares stare them down. Grimacing Girl sighs in resignation, and not needing to pack anything because she hasn't even sat, heads towards the door. Seeing that his key to continue playing volleyball was walking away, Tobio hastily shoves his papers in his bag and chases his upperclassman out of the double doors.

-.-.-

She didn't ask for this.

Nanoka grumbled to herself as she slouched her way down the hallway, her face set in a deep frown, her ire causing temporary crow's feet because of her often scrunched facial expression. She went to the library to finish her essay on senior citizen homes, and noticed the same boy that sat across from her last time, working on the exact same math sheet with no progress whatsoever. She pitied him and gave him some advice. Their interaction was supposed to end there but the boy attached himself to her like a leech after having the nerve to command her to teach him!

The same boy is still following Nanoka, easily catching up with his long legs. He seemed kind of lanky to be an athlete, but she saw his arm muscles flex when he grabbed onto her. Nanoka's wrists still stung a little. He must be in a sports team, something like baseball, to have a grip like that. He has combed down hair (probably gelled), with dark blue eyes that pressures her to conform to his will. His nose is sharp and lips set in an equally sharp frown.

"You need to teach me." Nanoka abruptly stops, causing him to nearly plow her over. She turns around with a dour expression and slaps him audibly on his chest, creating a ripple in his gakuran. She snaps,

"How about you rephrase that before I even consider it, first year?" The black haired boy gapes at her, eyes wide, before snapping into a straight posture and bowing ever so slightly.

"Please teach me math, senpai!" Nanoka crosses her arms. She snootily raised her chin so she gazed down at him over the bridge of her nose.

"You got me kicked out of the library."

"I'm sorry, senpai!" A trickle of sweat runs down the first year's neck.

"What are you going to do about it?" Tobio freezes. Oikawa's disembodied voice comes to mind.

_"Iwa-chan, I'm sorry, I'll treat you to ice cream!"_

"I-I'll treat you to ice cream!" Nanoka leans back a little in surprise before breaking out into a smirk. Well, there's nothing in her book that can't be solved with food. She decides to keep her facade for a little longer. She places her hands on her hips and leans forward, making the boy instinctively lean back. He now precariously stood at a negative thirty degree angle. Nanoka purrs.

"What's your name, first year?" She watches his larynx bob nervously. He is obviously trying to look everywhere but her playful expression. His eyes currently sat on the ceiling, face and neck tinged pink.

"It's Kageyama Tobio, senpai." It was also kind of blatant that he was trying to appeal to Nanoka's status as an upperclassmen by mentioning it in every sentence. She's probably been called senpai for a year's worth in the last twelve minutes. Nanoka sighs, retreating, allowing

Tobio to straighten his form. Nanoka crosses her arms again, nodding to herself.

"Well, Kageyama-kun. You haven't exactly been a well mannered underclassman, but I can overlook that if you find and buy me the limited edition Napolitan flavored Garigari-kun. " Tobio blinks in confusion before perking up, his whole expression brightening despite the lack of a smile on his face. She's going to teach me! Touched by her forgivingness, Tobio gives her a casual half bow.

"Azzasu*!"

-.-.-

"What is this I hear about you getting asked out at the library by a first year?" Chiharu shrills. When Nanoka arrived at the club building, she was already waiting at the entrance of the Calligraphy Club Room. Nanoka spluttered before regaining her composure and gathering the key she dropped on the floor from the surprise attack.

"Haru, you should know better than to listen to gossip." Chiharu wiggles her hips in anticipation.

"But Moemi-chan from 2-B-"

"Only heard it from somebody else. Was she even at the library when this happened?" Chiharu pouts her glossed lips.

"Noooo, but-"

"Haru." Nanoka groans. Chiharu promptly shuts her jaw, still pouting full force, cheeks puffed. Nanoka glances at Chiharu's face just once before caving in.

"He just wanted someone to tutor him in algebra."

"...what?" Chiharu's dream scenario of Nanoka getting asked out by a handsome freshmen and getting whisked away into a whirlwind of romance crumbles before her eyes. "Tutoring?" Chiharu jiggles the doorknob before finally getting it to creak open. She takes off her shoes and assesses the room as Chiharu closes the door behind them.

The tatami had ink splatters from years ago, seeped into the grains of bamboo. Rice paper littered the floor, and piles more lay on the side for their disposal. Looking down on them, a framed calligraphy is pinned to the top of the clubroom window:

_'Writing is an Art Form'_

"He's absolute trash at it. He couldn't solve Yanda-sensei's short answer questions. Remember those?" Getting over her shock, Chiharu thumps her fist into her open palm.

"I remember those! The ones gave us before tests right? Those are so unfair, they're so easy and when you actually take the exam, the questions are a million times harder!" Nanoka makes a deadpanned expression at her. "Okay, maybe not a million times harder, but a still significantly!" Nanoka shrugs off her school bag and blazer, hanging it on the hook by the door. She makes a hand motion for Chiharu's blazer.

"This kid wants to pass the test even though he can't solve a single question. He's not going to make it, I don't know why he bothers." Chiharu hands Nanoka her blazer after patting the back of dust.

"Do you know his name?" Nanoka pauses briefly before resuming hanging the blazer next to hers. She sits on one of the ink stained cushions with grace. Being in this room habitually makes her calm and focused. Now all she needs to do is prepare some sumi before she can get to work. She pulls a nearby stack of paper near her, pinning one sheet to the flat board using a stone. Nanoka 'hmm's in thought.

"I think it was... Kageyama?" Chiharu stares at Nanoka, shocked. The brunette croaks,

"Kageyama? Volleyball club member Tobio Kageyama?" Nanoka stops rubbing the ink stone onto the heated plate to look up at her frozen friend.

"I knew it. He's in a sports team." Chiharu breaks out of her ice and reaches over to grab Nanoka's shoulder.

"Nanocchi, he's a big deal! All the girls are saying that he's a genius volleyball player that might replace Oikawa-kun!" Nanoka calmly rips Chiharu's hand off of her.

"Haru, I'm helping him with algebra, not volleyball. I'm not trying to destroy your precious Oikawa-kun." Nanoka sarcastically made her pitch higher for the third year's name to express her disdain. Chiharu backs down reaching to her left to fidget with some askew rice paper.

"I'm just worried, that's all. Oikawa-kun doesn't seem to like that genius first year very much." Nanoka wets her sumi brush with ink, contemplating what to write.

"I wouldn't like someone who's out to replace me either." The calligraphy club president places the brush to the paper, gliding it to the right before making an abrupt three hundred degree turn. Chiharu watches with interest as the wet words '_The Strongest Persevere_' is swiped into existence. In the back of Nanoka's mind, a dark fuzziness grew. _Replaceable._ Chiharu stared down at the words before nodding and pumping her tiny fists.

"Oikawa-kun is totally stronger than that stupid first year! He'll definitely be the setter for this year's prefecture competition! Nanocchi, I'm keeping this one to give to Oikawa-kun to boost his confidence!" Despite asking for permission, Chiharu grabs the paper from Nanoka's writing board before she can give consent. Nanoka was not surprised, but she still became exasperated.

"You better roll it this time."

"That was that one time!"

"'_Monkeys also Fall from Trees_'?" Chiharu sticks her tongue out of the corner of her tongue in a sarcastically cute manner. She seemed to have caught that habit from Oikawa, because Nanoka always sees him with the same face when playing with Iwaizumi.

"Oopsy, that other time too."

Nanoka harrumphed. "Right." Chiharu distractingly glances down at her clock.

"Where's Fukuchi-kun? Doesn't he usually arrive by this time?" Nanoka finishes the last stroke of her word.

'_Diligence_.'

"He handed in his club resignation form last week." Chiharu gasps.

"That asshole!"

"Haru!"

"But Nanocchi, without Fukuchi-kun-"

"I know." The tiny brunette continued to fume.

"That's so unfair!" Nanoka shrugs, her shoulders drooping. The Calligraphy Club will most likely receive a disbanding notice in a few days, or a few weeks if they're lucky and the counselors do not notice their insufficient number of members for a while. Chiharu, being the sweetheart she is, signed up to be a member when she hear about Nanoka's predicament during the second semester of their first year. They both coerced Fukuchi Sakama to join the club to make it official after finding out that he was not in any club. She was surprised Fukuchi even stuck around for such a long time despite having no interest in this art. _He probably won't show his face around me for a while._

Chiharu continues to rant, but when she glances at Nanoka, her voice fades into silence.

"Nanocchi, the brush..."

"What? Oh, oh! Crap!" In her daze, Nanoka's brush stroke has exceeded the paper and travelled onto the tatami. "Nooo." She dabbed at the tatami with the underside of her cushion, but the ink has seeped in too far to absorb. She stared the stain with resigned expression. Chiharu slowly pulls her own cushion from under her legs and places it quietly over the stain. Without uttering a single word, an agreement passes between them.

-.-.-

"_Meet me in front of the vending machines tomorrow during lunch._"

Tobio power walks down the hall, textbook and worksheet in hand. He doesn't want to arrive there after her, because this senpai is spending her precious lunch period to tutor him. He gets to the east side of the school building where the vending machines are located, along with a lawn with sakura trees and a few flower beds. The flowers of the sakura trees are long gone, and the branches now have lush green leaves that create the perfect shade to sit under. Some students already occupied the limited space under the tree, and one student in particular looks very familiar-

"Senpai!" Grimacing Girl slowly looks up from the novel she was perusing. She is sitting on the stumpy roots of one tree, knees bent slightly to keep balance. Her back leans against the wood, her hair swept over one shoulder to keep it from getting caught onto the grains and branches of the tree. She gives him that crooked grimace that he started to associate with her and only her.

"You're late."

"I'm sorry senpai!"

"Well, sit down. Let's get to work and get as much done as possible."

"Ossu!" Tobio drops to the ground and scatters his papers. Grimacing Girl leans over her knees to look at his textbook.

"Kageyama-kun, these are the foundations of algebra. If you don't understand this, the rest of the curriculum will be a lot more confusing. When is your test?"

"Friday."

"And you didn't look for tutoring for the past week becaaause?" Tobio's mouth forms a sharp pout that was one degree away from an acute angle.

"...I thought I will eventually make it work if I tried hard enough." Grimacing Girl gives him a half lidded stare, then sighs.

"Algebra isn't something you can work out with sheer will power. You need to understand it before any of the cogs move to your command," She scoots closer to Tobio and fingers a few pages before opening up to a problem that seemed easy enough. "Here, lets try this question here, so there's a lamp that's 10 meters tall..."

"...I apply the formula here?"

"No."

"...if a is 12cm, then c has to be..."

"How do you even get to that conclusion?"

"I get it! The answer is..."

"...you're getting there. But you missed this step, which is essential to..."

"This isn't making sense, are you sure the question has an answer?"

"Kageyama-kun, don't blame the question for your stupidity."

"Eugh."

For nearly a whole hour, the two poured over problem after problem. Tobio gets better at questions that are essentially the same but with different inputs, but the moment a new variable is added, he ends up back at square one. Before they know it, the class bell chimes, notifying students of their thirty seconds to get to class. Grimacing Girl and Tobio panic, papers flying, scrambling into the school building with other students on their heel. Tobio abruptly stops, nearly causing a collision with the student behind him. He calls out to the second year, who is skipping steps up the stairs.

"Senpai, am I seeing you tomorrow?" Grimacing Girl hops in place, moving to the side to avoid getting barreled. She takes one look at Tobio's frightened expression. _How cute._

"You're stuck with me until Friday, Kageyama-kun. Better buck up and eat your lunches during class." Tobio's cheek regain their hue in relief, and Grimacing Girl unconsciously lets out a breathy giggle.

"Azzasu!"

-.-.-

The day of the exam arrived fast. Tobio shook in his seat during their last tutoring session and kept on making mistakes he didn't make before. Nanoka taught him the calming charm where one draws the kanji for _Person_ on their hand and swallowing it to regain their sense of self**, but Tobio obviously thought it was dumb and only partook in it to please her.

Nanoka sighs and stretches her arms in front of her. _Kageyama-kun must be taking the test right now_. She wonders if Kageyama used the calming charm, or even the short cut to that one particular formula he couldn't get down. Nanoka props her left arm up and settles her chin on the palm of her hand.

Tobio is one of the most immature people she knows, but at some point he started to become endearing. In her mind, he has evolved from a bratty first year to socially awkward first year. Her favorite is the moment when Tobio realizes he said something stupid or mean and makes a certain expression where he lowers his jaws while keeping his mouth closed, elongating his face, his eyebrows furrowed together, eyes buyg-eyed. When she saw the face for the first time it scared the crap out of her, and Nanoka thought he was angry, but after connecting the dots she came to know that Tobio wasn't the best at expressing himself, facially or verbally, and that so called angry face was his interpretation of a terrified puppy. He never voices an apology, but his face tells Nanoka that Tobio knows he did something wrong and is waiting for the consequences. He only relaxes again when Nanoka visibly brushes the comment off. It's a reminder that Nanoka is in control of their relationship, and it definitely helps that it strokes her ego and is absolutely hilarious (and a touch adorable).

Nanoka ends up day dreaming about Tobio for the entire class period. She only snaps out of it when her classmates start gathering their things, indicating that the bell has already rung. Nanoka makes a sheepish smile when the chemistry teacher shakes his head while passing by her desk to exit the classroom. The moment the teacher is out of sight, Nanoka slaps her cheeks repetitively. _Get your shit together! You should be focusing on ranking within the top 50***, not boys! _Her eyes trail towards the door. _I wonder if Kageyama-kun is waiting for me today? I did say that I will only help him for this test… _Before she even realizes, Nanoka is floating out of the classroom, Chiharu's indignant shrieks going into one ear and out the other.

Tobio is not at their meeting spot.

Nanoka is not surprised, but she couldn't help but be a little disappointed. She hoped that they could remain friends outside of tutoring but it looks like she raised the bar too high. Nanoka sighs through her nose and wanders to the vending machines. She buys a calpico soda for herself and a melon soda for Chiharu to make up for the whole week of being Nanoka-less during lunch. She weaves through the forming crowd of students, wondering if she will be able to enter the library again if she changes her hairdo so the librarian won't recognize her.

-.-.-

**Three Days Later**

Sixty Eight.

Tobio's hands trembled, crinkling the edges of the paper. He passed. This score is a record breaker for him, because his goal used to be to just get into the double digits. His cheeks are bright red, lip wobbling with barely contained whoops of joy.

"Kindaichi, what did you get?" Tobio perks up at his team mate's name. In his peripheral vision, he sees Kindaichi Yuutarou and Kunimi Akira swapping papers. "You failed, huh. This test was a lot harder than I expected. The review sheet didn't help at all." Kindaichi scratches his head, a pout on his face. Tobio's eyes trail back to his own test. _I-I got a higher score than Kindaichi!_

"I thought the test would have been easier too...you usually get high eighties but you got a seventy this time, huh."

"Urgh, don't rub salt into my wounds. I got to keep my average up so I have to get into the nineties in the next test. Kageya-whoa, are you okay? You're shaking." Kunimi makes a double take when he turns to address Tobio. Tobio's eyes were glassy, his lower lip jutted. "A-are you going to cry? Why are you going to cry? Did we do something?" Kindaichi furiously shakes his head, not wanting to take responsibility for a crying classmate.

"Nuh-uh, I refuse to be accused of bullying! He started cryin' all by himself!" Tobio looks up from his paper, and his watery smirk makes Kindaichi and Kunimi a little weirded out.

"I... I got a sixty eight."

The two boys take a second to take it in. Kunimi is the first to break the silence.

"What." Kindaichi growls and grabs the paper out of Tobio's hands.

"Let me see that!" Kunimi and Kindaichi lean into the paper, staring a hole into the red number on the paper. They simultaneously angle their head back up towards Tobio. "What." Tobio is still in a high daze. He has never felt this good before, not since that time he perfected the c-quick after weeks of practice. It was the feeling of ecstasy when you do something you thought impossible.

Tobio thought of how he got there, and Grimacing Girl's face immediately comes to mind. She gave him advice. She told him shortcuts. She warned him about the difficulty difference. She taught him a useless charm. She helped him be able to continue to play _volleyball. _

Tobio abruptly grabs the paper back, and runs out the door towards the vending machines. He needs to show Grimacing Girl his score and see that weird half smile on her face that he likes and maybe get a pat on the head or a pinch on the cheek because he's so proud of himself and he absolutely needs Grimacing Girl to know that she didn't waste her lunch periods on him and that he's not the hopeless case she thought he was.

Tobio sprints down the hallway, barely dodging staff and students.

_He needs her to be proud of him._

-.-.-

**Culture Notes**

**Azzasu***: You would have heard this before if you watched the anime, but it is the informal and shortened version of 'Arigatou Gozaimasu'. Commonly used by boys.

**Charm****: A well known good luck charm technique in Japan. It apparently helps people get into a meditative state. If you want to try it, the kanji for person is 人. Downward left to right before a downward right to left.

**School Ranking***: **In Japan, you don't get a GPA in a class. You get ranked among the students in your year (Example: If you get an average of 80s in one class, you probably rank 300 out of 1000 students). It's meant to promote competition, but it's a flawed system because it implies that student self worth is measured by how well they do in school.

-.-.-

**A/N**

Hey guys! Thanks for reading this first chapter!

I decided to write this story because Tobio's middle school life isn't really mentioned other than that last junior high competition where he gets knocked off his pedestal in both manga and anime. So I wanted to explore it! Tobio is 13 here (middle school in Japan starts at 7th grade), and Nanoka is 14. They are young and immature, so expect a just as immature relationship between them(expect fluff and illogical reasoning).

As you have noticed, this story revolves around Tobio and Nanoka, with interchanging point of views. It's to keep everyone on the same page because despite being in the same school, they are 99% of the time in a different setting with a different mindset. When _BLEEP_ comes into the story, their point of view will be added. Hopefully this wasn't too confusing.

I will also make many cultural references, because I sort of want to make this fic a little educational haha. If you have any question about Japanese language, culture, customs, whatever, **ask**! Everyone has to start somewhere, and it's the better choice compared to making stuff up about an actual, existing culture.

Special thanks to **Bergliot-Manner**__for letting me bounce ideas off of her and just being super supportive of this story. Without you, I probably would have just left this story a plot bunny and never would have wrote it. She's the writer of Of Swans and Apple Trees, which is a beautifully written story about a foreigner's life in Karasuno. It touches on themes like culture differences and the general reception of white people in Japan, which most 'transfer-student' or 'foreigner' fics don't like to touch. Berg dives straight into it and irons it out for you guys.


	2. Confession

**Chapter Two**

It takes Tobio twenty four minutes to register that his senpai is not going to show up at their meeting spot.

Rather than feeling hurt and giving up, it fuels his pent up energy even more and he power walks back into the school building and up the stairs to the second floor, where the second and third year homerooms were. He opens the closest second year classroom, 2-E, and takes a look around. The older students barely spare him a glance, and none of them finding Tobio worth investigating. It reminds him of the first time he and Grimacing Girl met in the library. It must be a senpai thing.

Not finding the older girl, he moves onto the next classroom. Same problem. Students milling in the hallway watch him curiously as he opens each door. When he gets to 2-C, a male student sitting right by the exit cocks his head at Tobio while his friends raise their eyebrows at the notion of a first year stepping into a second year classroom.

"Did ya need something?" Tobio opens his mouth to reply before he realizes something horrible.

What is Grimacing Girl's name? Did she ever tell him? Did he ever ask? Did it get buried under the million equations and formulas she pounded into his brain? How rude can he get? How is he supposed to properly thank her when he can't personalize it? The upperclassmen exchanges wary glances with his friends as Tobio's face gets paler. "Hey kid, you okay?"

"Maybe he thought this was his classroom?"

"No way, all first year homerooms are on the ground floor...oh, hey look, he's running away." The group quietly watch as Tobio sprints down the hall to the next classroom. The one closest to the door peers out the door as Tobio turns the corner. "Musta' been looking for something pretty important."

Near the chalkboard, a brunette surrounded by her flock of friends watched the underclassman with an owlish expression. ..._Kageyama?_

-.-.-

"He's back." Kindaichi looks up from his bento at Kunimi's remark. True to his words, Tobio is trudging towards his seat, surrounded by a gloomy atmosphere. Kunimi and Kindaichi both look at each other with uncertainty._ What happened?_

Neither Kindaichi or Kunimi are particularly close to Tobio. He never really reached out to them, so they returned the favor. During practice, Tobio is either bothering their setter and captain, Oikawa, or practicing with the upperclassmen since he made it to the regulars team. The only time they really interacted were when they are on the court, and even that is not conversational. But they technically are obligated to inquire about Tobio's state of health since not only are they classmates, but also team mates... Kindaichi, being the middle blocker and having the most interactions with Tobio, moves first.

"Hey, Kageyama, you...you okay?" Kunimi snorts at his attempt and immediately looks away when Kindaichi shoots him a glare, face heating up. He whispers, "I-I'm not good at cheering people up okay!" Tobio stares down at his crumpled test paper before slowly looking up. Despite the aura he is giving out, his face is scarily blank.

"Do you know any second years, Kindaichi?" The spiky haired teen in question blinks at the sudden seemingly irrelevant question.

"Uh, I only know those from the volleyball club. How about you, Kunimi?" Kunimi rubs his chin with his thumb and index finger.

"I know that Yasui-senpai's girl friend is a second year, but I don't know her name or face so I don't think that'll help you." Kindaichi gives him a deadpanned look as Tobio's eyes lower back down to his lap.

"Why bother mentioning it then, dumbass." Kunimi ignores him and addresses Tobio.

"Are you looking for someone?" Tobio nods. "Do you know their name?" Tobio shakes his head. "Is it a boy or girl?"

"Girl." Kindaichi whistles.

"What are you seeking out a female senpai for, Kageyama? How did you get to know one anyway?" Kindaichi's grin widens as he makes a connection. "Is that where you've been running off to during lunch last week?" Tobio frowns, tightening his hold on his test paper.

"She... tutored me for this test." Kindaichi's eagerness diminishes at those words. _Oh, a paid tutor_._ Luxuries of a rich kid I guess_. Kunimi notices Kindaichi's sudden lack of enthusiasm.

"Maybe we can keep an eye out for her. Describe her to us." Kindaichi grumbles that that's unnecessary work for them but Kunimi elbows him to shut his trap. Tobio's arms rise from his lap and rest on his desk to fiddle with his pencils.

"She's shorter than me, by a little. Long dark brown hair. Kinda pale. She's pretty thin." Kunimi nods along, smiling a little at the sight of Tobio slowly becoming more animated about something other than volleyball. Kunimi always thought that volleyball was on the freshmen setter's brain at any given time, but learning that even Tobio thinks about unrelated trivial things, was relieving. It humanized Tobio in his eyes. Kindaichi is leaning out the window that opens up to the hallway, half listening, half people watching. He notices a figure standing oddly close to him and looks up. "She has this face though, sometimes, and it's this weird combination of a sad face and a mean face, like this," Tobio scrunches his eyebrows, clenches his teeth, and widens his mouth in an attempt to mimic the older girl.

Kindaichi is sweating bullets while Kunimi laughs at Tobio's face.

"That must be one ugly senpai, Kageyama." Tobio purses his lower lip and is about to reply when-

"Is my face really that ugly?" Kunimi and Tobio freeze. Kunimi, because he has a pretty good feeling that this is a '_speak of the devil_' instance, and Tobio because he knows that voice. Kindaichi is scooting away from the duo, pretending to not know them. _Coward. But can't blame him_. Kunimi thinks. He risks a glance up at the girl he called ugly and does a double take. Their senpai, like Tobio has described, has long hair, pale skin, and is a little on the thin side, but she isn't his definition of ugly. She definitely looks angry though. _I wish I can swallow my words back. The second best thing will be for the ground to swallow me so I won't have to deal with the consequences_.

Grimacing Girl leans on the railing, eyes raking the boys before her.

"Well? Am I?" Kunimi fervently shakes his head, and Tobio has enough brain cells to imitate him in this denial. Senpai's sour expression softens ever so slightly. Suddenly Tobio leapt out of his seat, not able to wait anymore. He shoves the test in her face.

"Senpai, I passed!" Kunimi internally groans at Tobio's inability to read the atmosphere. Grimacing Girl gently pushes the paper away from her face so she can see it better. Kunimi is surprised at her blase response to Tobio's outburst.

"Kageyama-kun, you're satisfied with... this kind of score?" Tobio nods enthusiastically while Grimacing Girl eyes the paper up and down. Well, at least he got (barely) majority correct. "...good for you."

Tobio grins as much as his smile-disabled face allows him, not noticing the fact that Grimacing Girl didn't compliment him. All he knows is that she acknowledged his hard work and the result. Which lead him back to the original problem.

"Senpai, I want to thank you properly. Please humble me with your name." Kunimi hid his pink face in his hands, his embarrassment growing at Tobio's audacity. Grimacing Girl's frown is surprisingly gone, and she looks more amused than upset. Kunimi comes to the conclusion that she's a person who is either easily distracted, or extremely forgiving.

"I never did have to opportunity to tell you, did I?" Tobio shakes head. Grimacing Girl reaches into the classroom and places her palm on the crown of his head. Tobio beams, obviously expecting a petting.

Instead, he gets a faceful of his lunch.

_Or not._

Grimacing Girl continues to smile down at him, her wrists twisting to rub Tobio's face into the curry bread. Kunimi has joined Kindaichi in scooting as far away as he can from the second year girl. Kindaichi is shaking in his seat like a leaf.

"You also never had the manners to ask. My name is Arakita Nanoka. Remember that." Tobio groans, half his face covered in curry.

"Yez zembai."

-.-.-

"Where have you been? Kageyama-kun came looking for you," Chiharu inquired, wrapping up her tiny bunny emblemed lunchbox. Nanoka sinks into her chair, a satisfied smile on her face as she rips open the package of the milk bun.

"I know. I ambushed him in his classroom and smushed his face into his lunch."

"Oh that's ni-_-what_?" The taller girl hums contently. Tobio was looking for her. Tobio was actively seeking her out. Tobio wanted to get to _know_ her.

Maybe Nanoka and Tobio had a chance of becoming friends.

-.-.-

During class changes.

"Nanoka-senpai!"

Lunch break, hallway.

"Nanoka-senpai!"

Taking out the class trash to the incinerator.

"Nanoka-senpai!"

Chiharu watched as Nanoka waves the freshman away for the _n_th time. "Is this what you had in mind when you started tutoring him?" Tobio waves back frantically until he turns the corner and disappears. Nanoka immediately drops her arm.

"I... didn't expect him to be so clingy."

Quickly depositing the contents of the bin into the fire, they hurry back towards their classroom. Chiharu shudders, hugging the garbage pail to her chest.

"Don't you think its a bit creepy? Half of the meeting probably aren't coincidences." Nanoka shrugs.

"It's kind of cute. It's nice to know I left a good impression on him." Chiharu exaggeratingly raises the plastic bin to shield her eyes from Nanoka's slightly pink face. She lets out a high pitched cry.

"Ahhhh! It's Nanoka's Optimism Laser Beam!" Nanoka splutters.

"Hey!"

-.-.-

Tobio wanted to see Nanoka more, but being in different years and classes made this a lot harder. Since Nanoka is a second year, her homeroom is on the second floor while his is on the first. She only leaves the classroom to go to the vending machines, bathrooms, gym, or science lab. Not that Tobio waited around the corner of the staircase for a couple of hours or anything.

Tobio liked Nanoka. She treats him kindly and doesn't make fun of him. She's scary sometimes, but Tobio knows deep down she's not actually that angry. She just likes to pretend. The part he liked the most about her was that she's not afraid of his face. He's had times where children ran from him, screaming in terror just because he bent down to pick up the ball they accidentally threw near him. He wasn't glaring or anything, but his neutral face is described by others to be vicious or angry looking.

Nanoka took it all in stride and never made a comment about.

The thought makes him grip the volleyball in his hands tighter. Instantly, the sounds of the gymnasium swarm him once again. He opens his eyes, exhaling.

Tobio throws the ball into the air and makes a running start, before swinging his arm, delivering an overhand serve. A chorus from his side of the net follows.

"Nice serve Kageyama!" From the other side,

"Good receive!"

"It's yours Kunimi!"

"Iwa-chan, ready!" Within seconds, Iwaizumi spikes the ball from above the net before whipping his head towards Oikawa, baring his teeth.

"Stop calling me that in front of our underclassmen!" Oikawa childishly grins back at the growling fifteen year old, making no apologies or promises.

"Iwa-chan, the ball is coming back." He snickers as Iwaizumi instinctively bends his legs for more flexible movement, forgetting about Oikawa's nickname in an instant. The ball touches two people before it reaches Oikawa once again. He glances at his opposing team and notices that the blockers have marked Iwaizumi already. _Hmm, so predictable. We need to fix that. _Storing that information for later lecturing, Oikawa makes a feint before dunking the ball over the net.

It bounces off the floor.

Coach blows the whistle, indicating end game. Oikawa feels a shudder of joy at seeing Tobio's frustrated expression. _At least for now, I'm ahead of the little genius. _He looks down to his own red palms. _At least for now._ Almost as if Iwaizumi read his mind, his second in command slaps him on his back, snapping him out of his reverie. He gruffs.

"Good game." Oikawa grins back.

"It's all thanks to the team. Our coordination has gotten better." Oikawa purposely says the last part loudly, letting a passing Kunimi overhear. The first year beams, his usual slow walk a little bouncier to the water fountain. After wiping their sweat and drinking their portion of energy water, Team B perform quick stretches to make sure their limbs are still nimble. The coach blows the whistle thrice, signaling the end of their five minute break. Team A and B swap sides, exchanging playful slaps and calls. When Oikawa passes Tobio, he does not even acknowledge the prodigy. Tobio adopts a miffed expression, but does not do anything to reach out towards the third year student. Watching this exchange, Iwaizumi sighs. Oikawa's childishness has no bounds.

-.-.-

"Are you free this Sunday?"

'What?" Chiharu's face expressed more surprise than Nanoka's at the question. They had just exited the girl's bathroom, and Tobio was waiting for them at the entrance, piquing passerby's curiosities. Nanoka is still wiping her hands with her handkerchief, mulling over her schedule. "Um, maybe. Why?"

"There's a practice match between my team and Morisuka Middle's. Coach is letting me be setter for five rotations. I want you to be there to watch me." Tobio's face is stern, determined. Nanoka doesn't know if his constipated expression is because he really wants her to go or because he wanted to have a bigger role in the game. Beside her, Chiharu is hyperventilating from excitement.

"Nanocchi we should totally go! Volleyball games are super fun to watch!" Nanoka frowns, trying to catch Chiharu's fluttering arms that kept on slapping her. They actually kind of hurt. Tobio quirks his eyebrow at the shorter brunette.

"I didn't invite you." Chiharu freezes, before slowly turning to face the younger boy. Nanoka laughs nervously, gripping Chiharu's arm to her chest. Her placating 'now, now' goes unheard.

"Chiharu is going. _We're_. Totally. Going." Chiharu grits out, her smile containing a dangerous edge. No one denies Chiharu an Oikawa-in-action. Understandably, Tobio quickly raises a white flag. Chiharu's fake nails were starting to look a little too sharp for his liking.

"Y-yeah. Chiharu-senpai can come too." Chiharu's demeanor does a 180, and she claps her hand delightfully.

"Perfect! I can't wait, bye Kageyama-kun!"

Chiharu, Nanoka, and Tobio do not move from their spot in front of the bathroom. The sound of a flushing toilet fills the silence.

Chiharu's eyes narrow, her smile still plastered on her face. "I said _bye_, Kageyama-kun!" Nanoka sighs and makes a quiet shooing motion, and Tobio finally catches on.

"R-right. Catch you later Arakita-senpai."

"Bye Kageyama-kun."

The moment Tobio's jogging form disappears around the corner, Chiharu shakes Nanoka violently.

"Kageyama-kun totally just asked you out on a date!" Nanoka burps out a cough at suddenly being lurched side to side. In instances like this, she wishes her friend doesn't get so excited over possible relationships and instead worried about her grades more. Her secondhand excitement for Nanoka was sweet of her, but unnecessary in Nanoka's mind.

"Wait, if you thought it was a date, why are you third wheeling?" Chiharu scoffs, crossing her skinny arms.

"You guys need a champion, duh."

"Chaperone, Haru, chaperone."

"That." Nanoka pockets her handkerchief and starts walking back to their classroom to pick up the last of their belongings before leaving for a Burger King girl's date. Chiharu circles her as they walk, obviously excited about the prospect of Nanoka being fancied by a boy.

Of course, if Nanoka, or anyone really, is compare to Chiharu, they will seem bland, tasteless and boring. Chiharu literally breathes the in stale air and exhales youth back into the atmosphere. Just being around her keeps you on your toes and feeling five years younger. Chiharu is also an enabler for childish thoughts and actions, which, despite Nanoka's stubbornness, she always ends up getting roped into. Nanoka surprises herself all the time at with the things she does just because Chiharu is around. Chiharu is the alpha of the social wolf pack of the Second Years, and people went to her for gossip and advice. Nanoka didn't mind being 'that girl that's always around Chiharu-chan', because she doesn't think she will be able to handle such societal pressure and responsibility of being an active being in an active social circle. She prefers to be a white sheep, keeping her thoughts to herself as she moves along with the tide.

Perhaps it was her quick wit and refreshing modesty that first attracted Chiharu to Nanoka, but it was ultimately their First Year seating arrangement that sealed the deal on their friendship. Since then, they've been spending nearly half of their daily lives together. Nanoka tries to not think about such things, because giving the credit of their friendship to Lady Luck made it seem shallow and coincidental. Nanoka liked to imagine that they would have still become best friends even if they sat a whole eight rows apart (but who was she kidding).

Tobio's tentative friendship with her, on the other hand, seemed deeper. It still formed despite their clashing personalities and odd situation, almost as if it was meant to happen and nothing in the way can stop it. She definitely felt the pull of attraction towards the boy, but it felt more maternal because he was younger. Like how she needs to pet him when he does something good.

Nanoka never considered dating. She liked eye candy as much as the next girl, but she never considered a boy attractive _romantically_. She couldn't help but be confused when a heroine in a movie does an illogical action in the name of love. When Nanoka asks her, Chiharu simply pets her head and tells her she'll understand some day. Very helpful.

Nanoka didn't mind not being in a romantic relationship, seeing that her advanced classes and dying calligraphy club took up all of her free time. It seemed like more of a distraction than anything. And if she needed social time, she can just call Chiharu up and go out into town. End of story.

But if it's Tobio...maybe she won't mind.

-.-.-

Nanoka is dying.

"I would have said no if I knew the game starts at 8AM." Chiharu giggles, letting Nanoka snuggle into her shoulder on the short bus ride to their school. They are dressed in casual wear, but the spring morning is still chilly so they are bundled in their hoodie and sweater. Chiharu wears a frilly skort and a chiffon blouse under her v-neck sweater, while Nanoka dresses in a long sleeve oxford, shorts, and knee socks with her fleece hoodie. When they arrive at their stop, Chiharu drags Nanoka's limp body off of the bus and into the campus.

"Come one Nanocchi, I'll buy you some hot chocolate at the vending machines, walk on your oooown!" After much coaxing, Chiharu gets Nanoka to stand on her own two feet. She hands the long haired girl some coins, telling her to buy her one also since she needs to go claim a front row seat. Grumbling at being tricked, Nanoka trudges to the vending machines. A boy in their middle school volleyball team uniform stood before the the bright mechanical boxes, deep in thought. Nanoka decided to wait behind him, not wanting to cut him if he's about to choose. He notices her and turns around.

It's Oikawa.

Thankfully he doesn't recognize her from the scarce visits to the gymnasium she made with Chiharu. That would be embarrassing. He smiles charmingly at her, moving to the side.

"You can go first," Nanoka nods, plodding to the front of the drink machine to order the hot chocolates. She notices that Chiharu gave her five hundred yen, and she had enough money left for another drink.

Tobio often drank that yoghurt drink during their tutoring sessions.

Before she knew it, she inserted the money and pressed the button. Nanoka snaps out of it when the drink drops. "Ahh!" Oikawa looks at her like she's some bizarre creature and she feels like cheek burn from embarrassment. She hastily picks up the dented carton of yoghurt and flees, juggling the three drinks. Nanoka hopes she has enough spare change to pay Chiharu back for Tobio's drink.

Nanoka makes it to the gym and when she spots Chiharu waving down at her, she climbs the steep steps to the mezzani. She hands a hot chocolate and the change to the eager girl and opens her own can before it loses it's warmth.

"Hey Nanoka, why am I short 150?" Nanoka licks the foam off her upper lip.

"I bought something for Tobio too. I'll pay you back so don't worry." Chiharu looks like the cat got the cream and Nanoka's ire flares. She never liked it when Chiharu has a smug expression.

"No need to pay me back, girlfriend. I got you covered." Nanoka refuses to give into Chiharu's goad and chugs the rest of her hot chocolate, crunching the can in her fist.

"If you say so." Nanoka drops off her bag for Chiharu to watch over, and grabs her crushed can and Tobio's drink and heads down the stairs. When she gets to the ground floor, she ends up standing awkwardly at the corner of the court, trying to distinguish Tobio from the mass of uniformed boys. Tobio spots her before she does, and he pokes his head out from the crowd.

"Arakita-senpai!" The boys in the crowd perk up at his call, ogling Nanoka like a new foreign species. She sees Tobio's classmates and waves shyly at them. They stiffly nod back, the memory of Tobio's face full of curry still fresh on their mind. Kindaichi even starts trembling involuntarily.

Tobio approaches her, body buzzing from the warm ups and excitement for the game. "You came," He breathed out. Nanoka could literally feel the happiness oozing out of him in waves. Nanoka gaped at him. _He's really that glad that I came?_ She feels her skin prickle and cheeks warm at the thought. She covers her face with her hand in attempt to hide to blush and shoves the carton into Tobio's chest. He barely catches it on time and inspects it with a confused expression.

"H-here, take it! For good luck." Before Tobio can reply, Nanoka scampers away and up the stairwell into Chiharu's arms, where she hides her head under Chiharu's sweater. In between laughs Chiharu gasps out that Nanoka is paying for dry cleaning if the sweater gets stretched out. Tobio is stuck in place, staring owl eyed at the yoghurt drink in his hand. Nanoka got this for him? It's even his favorite drink. No one has ever given Tobio a gift for no reason-he barely gets birthday or Christmas gifts as is. Tobio's holds the yoghurt drink close to to his body, trying to relish the warm fuzzy feeling that was currently overwhelming him. _She was thinking about me..._

Feeling energized, Tobio stabs the opening with the straw and slurps up the drink in one breath, running back to his teammates. After watching the interaction, Oikawa nudges Iwaizumi.

"Iwa-chan, where's my drink of good luck?" Iwaizumi's expression immediately darkens and Oikawa leaps away from reach. "J-just kidding! Let's not hurt the Captain, yeah? His face is too pretty!"

Iwaizumi sprints after the shrieking brunet.

"Achaa*, Oikawa-kun made Iwaizumi-kun mad again," Chiharu tsks, leaning over the railing to keep Oikawa in her view. "You'd think they hate each other if they didn't come to school together everyday." Nanoka shrugs, huddling in her hoodie. The windows in the gymnasium are open and it's making her butt cold. She wishes she opted for tights instead of knee highs.

On the opposite side of court, a small crowd of boys in a yellow and dark green uniform stood in a circle around an adult (coach?), most likely talking about formation, attack patterns, or whatever volleyball meetings consist of. Nanoka can scarcely care, but there is nothing else to do while sitting on the mezzani. A man in a black polo blows his whistle, and the boys scramble into a line at the opposite ends of the court. Oikawa breaks away from the formation along with another boy on the opposite team, and they meet up by the net. The referee exchanges some words with them, and the boys shake hands. Nanoka jumps at the chorused roars.

"Please take care of us!"

The whistle screams, and the game is in session.

-.-.-

19-23.

Their school was losing. Chiharu and Nanoka could no longer sit during such excitement, and are gripping the railings as they screamed and groaned at each receive and spike.

Kindaichi, in an effort to keep the ball in the air, hits the ball too hard and send it over the net. Chiharu shrieks, collapsing onto the floor beside a groaning Nanoka. He growls, and Oikawa quickly placates him.

"No big deal Kindaichi!"

"Chance ball, chance ball!" The Morisuka team's libero passes the ball to the setter, and two players move into motion. Oikawa's eye dart between them._ Which one? Which one is going to hit the ball?! _The setter glances behind him. _Him!_ Kindaichi and Tobio foolishly jump in front of the decoy, and Oikawa is left alone to block the runner up. But the spiker proved to be articulate, and fluidly avoids Oikawa's arms and spikes the ball. It bounces off the ground.

19-24.

Match point.

Kindaichi pales, lips blubbering. Oikawa had warned them about blocking too fast, and that some teams will fake a spike to make an opening. But the moment he saw his opponent jump, he gave into the urge to block him. Because of him, they lost a point. Besides him, Tobio clenches his fists. He needs to get better. He needs to get stronger. Smarter. Faster.

"Awww, number 7 looks ready to cry." Chiharu cringes, and Nanoka drags her hand down her face.

"That move was kind of obvious though. They used it a few points ago, but they fell for it again. Number 7 is probably working impulsively." Oikawa pats Kindaichi's back, who looks glummer and glummer. Tobio just looks...mad.

"We're in the middle of match, get depressed later!" Tobio snaps. Iwaizumi immediately punches his side, causing Tobio to fold with a yelp.

"Stuff it, Kageyama! Don't you know anything about delicacy?!" He grumbles, but does not apologize.

"Number Seveenn!" The boys look up at the cry and see two girls waving down at them. "Donmai**! You can do it!" The short brunette give Kindaichi a wink and Tobio's friend offers a thumbs up.

Kindaichi feels his spirits rise at their support. That's right. He still has another set to turn the tables and redeem himself. If these strangers can believe in him...he can too. Kindaichi straightens his back and gives them a sloppy bow. "A-azzasu!" Tobio frowns at Nanoka's coo.

"What about me, senpai?" Tobio called. Chiharu guffaws at his lack of tact and Iwaizumi sighs.

"You're doing well too! Keep it up!" Nanoka awkwardly cheers, fist pumping. Satisfied, Tobio retreats back onto the court before they get flagged for 'Unnecessary Cheering'. Oikawa clasps his hands under his chin in a begging motion.

"What about m-"

"Oh my god Oikawa-senpai you're doing amazing!"

"We'll always be cheering for you!"

"We love you Oikawa-kun!"

The cacophony of girls scream down at him, vying for his attention. Chiharu joins the fray and Nanoka grimaces.

Oikawa notices her lack of encouragement for him, and finds it not amusing at all.

The referee yells at them for riling up the crowd and threatens to give them a red flag and give the first set to Morisuka. They boys immediately get back onto the court.

Kitagawa Daiichi manage to nab two points before Morisuka finally achieves the last point, winning the first set.

The audience disperse during the fifteen minute break, and the Kitagawa Daiichi volleyball team regroup at their end of the court, passing around drinks and towels. A second year elbows a drinking Kindaichi, causing him to squirt the energy drink all over his face.

"Kindaichiii, since when did you become friends with Chiharu-chan and her bestie? How dare you be chummy with the second year queen!" Another second year cries out in agreement. Kindaichi chokes, waving his hand in denial.

"N-no way senpai! I don't even know Chiharu-senpai, I only know her friend through Kageyama." The attention turns to Tobio, who is squeezing an energy jello into his mouth. He blinks, looking up.

"Whaf?" Kunimi scooches closer, joining the conversation.

"Wasn't her name Arakita-senpai? Kageyama said she tutored him." The second year who slapped Kindaiichi nods.

"Arakita is pretty smart, I think she ranked in the tens last year. She's kinda shy though." Kunimi and Kindaichi sweat. _Sure doesn't act like it…_

"Yasui-kun!" The second year perks up at his name. A girl comes running, out of breath.

"Kaho-chan!" Kunimi elbows Kindaichi and juts his chin at the girl.

"That's Yasui-senpai's girlfriend I was talking about." Kindaichi stares at the girl with an open mouth full of energy jello.

"Ooh." Yasui gets up from his sitting position and steadies the panting girl.

"I-I'm sorry I'm late for your match, I t-tried to get out of work as soon as possible."

"Kaho-chan, I told you you didn't have to…"

"I also got you this good luck charm, I-I put all my love into it so I hope it works!" Oikawa, Iwaizumi, and the rest of the third years quickly leave the scene before somebody barfs. The first years stare at the couple with undiluted fascination.

"Man, girlfriend's are nice. I want one." Kindaichi mumbled. Tobio thinks to himself that girlfriend's are nice too.

Kunimi shrugs, stuffing his towel under his shirt to absorb the sweat that collected on his back. "Kindaichi, you don't even get along with girls."

"S-shut up!" Kindaichi whips his towel at Kunimi, who immediately looks grossed out at being touched by Kindaichi's sweaty towel. Tobio squats near them, spooking the duo.

"Do you have to get along with the girl to go out with them?" Kindaichi raises an eyebrow.

"Duh? You have to like each other to even consider dating." In his brain, Tobio rules out 99% of the girls he knows. They were all too afraid of him to even talk to him. Tobio sucks the last of his jello out, contemplating.

"I want a girlfriend too." Kunimi and Kindaichi gawk at their classmate.

"Kageyama? You? Dati-" Kunimi covers his mouth. Kindaichi is almost as bad as Tobio when it comes to _not _leaving things unsaid.

"That's nice, Kageyama. Do you have anyone in mind?" Tobio nods.

"I'm going to ask Arakita-senpai." Kindaichi rips Kunimi's hand off of his mouth.

"Are you seri-" The referee blows the whistle to signal the start of the second set, and the boys scramble to put away their belongings and switch courts, conversations pushed back in order to focus on the game. Kindaichi's mind still swirled with the thoughts of Tobio dating someone.

-.-.-

Kitagawa-Daiichi win the next set. Nanoka and Chiharu jump up and down, doing a special handshake to celebrate. Kindaichi gets reprimanded by Oikawa for getting distracted by the girls in the stand, which leads to Iwaizumi yelling at Oikawa for letting such a horde of girls come to their game, which ends up with Oikawa with a giant bruise because he goaded that Iwaizumi is just jealous of his popularity. During the whole play, Tobio didn't give Nanoka a glance. He's too worried.

The coach still hasn't let him play setter yet, and he's getting antsy.

-.-.-

15-20.

Kitagawa-Daiichi is in the lead. Their coach calls for a time out. Tobio's muscles buzzed.

"Oikawa, since we're in the lead, we're switching you with Tobio for a while. It's to let him get a feel of the game, since he'll be setter once you graduate. This is a practice match for a reason, ready?"

"Ossu!"

Iwaizumi squeezes Oikawa's wrist. Without using words, he tries to reassure his childhood friend. _You're not being replaced. You're moving forward and Kageyama is simply filling your shoes._

When the game resumes, they get into the new formation, and the girls notice.

"Oikawa isn't in the middle? Hey, isn't that the first year genius setter?"

"Oh no, they're swapping him out already? Will Oikawa-kun play setter during the Junior High Prefecture Tournament?" Nanoka narrows her eyes, focusing on the boys below. This was what Tobio invited her to watch.

To watch him set.

Tobio's form is raw, and tosses instinctive. He has trouble adjusting the each middle blocker, tossing too fast often. There were some close calls, but Tobio quickly adapts. Kindaichi hit high tosses best, and Fumiya is good at tosses close to the net. Much to everyone's surprise, he racks up the points till it was 16-24. Match point.

None of the girls cheered for Tobio.

The lull in the air sounded odd after all the screaming they heard during Oikawa's play. It was almost...ominous. Like they were waiting for Tobio to fail. Then, a voice breaks the silence.

"K-Kageyama-kun! One more point!"

Tobio glances up at Nanoka, her face flushed from the sudden attention. But she does not shy away. Chiharu looked surprised at her friend's outburst, but a grin spreads on her face. Chiharu lets out a roar, scaring her neighbors,

"Orrraaaaaaaaa, that's right boys! One, more, point!" Her voice seems to ruse the audience. "One more point! One more point!" The chant quickly picks up momentum, and soon the whole gymnasium echoed the three words.

"One, more, point! One, more, point! One, more, point!" Nanoka offers Tobio a double thumbs up, mouthing a 'you can do it'. It starts a fire in his heart. Kindaichi slaps Tobio's arm, offering a sweaty grin.

"Show 'em what you got."

This time, the crowd roared at his serve, and howled even louder when his spike meets no opponent.

They had won.

-.-.-

The school teams finish the formalities, and start packing up the net and balls. Tobio still felt high from the feeling of his palm slapping the ball, scoring the point, hearing the roar of the crowd. Nanoka calling his name still echoed in his head. He sees shuffling in the corner of his eyes and looks up.

Chiharu and Nanoka are no longer in the stands. He drops the armful of balls, much to the coach's annoyance, and runs out of the gym in a hurry. He was supposed to ask Nanoka out after the game! She can't leave yet!

"What the- Kageyama, you have to help clean up!" Kageyama speeds past his fuming coach, ignoring his words. Kindaichi suddenly throws the net he was carrying to the floor and chases after the boy. "Kindaichi, where the hell do you think you're going?" Feeling something is up, Oikawa and Yasui also abandon their chores to snoop. "God damn it kids!" Iwaizumi and Kunimi sigh at the sight of the abandoned equipment.

"Haru hurry up, I'm hungry!" Chiharu groans from inside the girl's bathroom.

"Go to the vending machines or somthing! I really need to let this out!" Nanoka grimaces, face turning green. She dashes out of the bathroom with her hands over her ears before she hears anything unnecessary.

"Gross, Haru," Nanoka grumbles, slowing down at the end of the courtyard. She's about to turn the corner when Tobio suddenly darted out, nearly colliding with Nanoka. "Gah! Kageyama-kun?!" He stops, nearly tripping over himself. He is breathing heavily, staring down at Nanoka with an odd expression. She can see the million thoughts running through minds. "Are you okay? I'm sorry for leaving without telling you but Chiharu had to go to the bathroo-"

"Arakita-senpai," His voice sounds dead serious, and it makes the hair on the back of Nanoka's neck stand. She gulps. She fights down the urge to run away, because Tobio looked rather scary, heaving with black wiggly lines emitting from him in the background. They do not notice the trio of boys hide themselves in the bushes nearby despite their squabbling.

"Y-yes?" Tobio takes a deep breath, and tries his best to relax his expression. Nanoka grimaces because it does the opposite effect. His face now looked like Satan and a possessed eagle mixed together.

"Arakita-senpai, I'm not good with girls," Tobio starts. "I make scary faces and say the wrong things. But I still want a girlfriend." He suddenly grabs her clammy hands and pulls her forward, causing her to nearly lose her footing. Her eyes never leaves his, afraid that if she looks away for a minute, Tobio will gobble her up and fly away. "You're the only girl that's nice to me and talks to me. So will you go out with me?" When Tobio's words finally catch up to her, Nanoka splutters, unable to follow Tobio's brand of logic behind his confession. Her train of thought is interrupted when she hears a flush. They were standing in front of the boy's bathroom. Embarrassment floods her. They must be haunted by the God of Events of something, because she has a feeling many more of their meetings will take place in unconventional places.

"W-w-wah, was, confession to me in front of the urinals necessary, Kageyama-kun?" Tobio frowns harder, nearly making Nanoka squeak at the frightening expression in her panicked state. After a few seconds, Tobio looks away from her.

"Did you want me to ask you out again over there?" He points at the tree just a few meters away. She shakes her head in disbelief.

"Kageyama-kun you already said it! It's too late!"

"Oh. Is that a no?" Nanoka becomes dismayed at Tobio's kicked puppy expression.

"No, no, it's not a no!" At Tobio's hopeful expression, Nanoka quickly adds, "It's not a yes either!"

"O-okay." Nanoka takes her hands out of Tobio's and rests her palm over his fingers.

"K-Kageyama-kun, are you asking me out because you like me?" Tobio seems to think about it, before giving her a strong nod.

"You're nice to me and ...sometimes my heart beats faster when you're around." Despite those textbook romance words, Nanoka's own heart thrums. She shyly tucks a stray hair behind her ear.

"Are you sure you're okay with a person like me? I'm really boring…" Tobio shakes his head.

"Arakita-senpai, it can only be you." In the bushes, Oikawa grumbles.

"She better not say yes, he's only saying that because she's the only girl that talks to him," Kindaichi nods.

"Word," Yasui shushes them, intent on hearing the rest of the conversation. Before them, Nanoka shyly twirls her hair.

"When you say it like that…" Oikawa makes a horrified expression. He whispers,

"No, she won't!" Yasui elbows him into silence this time.

"We'll probably go really slow, Kageyama-kun, since I've never dated before. But if you're okay with that…" Nanoka bows slightly. "Please take care of me." Kageyama's expression brightens but quickly turns shocked when his teammates jump out from the bushes screaming obsenities of disbelief at them. Nanoka screams along with them, falling into Tobio when her legs give out at the shock.

Chiharu finally finds Nanoka, who is trying to regain her footing with Tobio flustered behind her, and Oikawa, Yasui, and Kindaichi with leaves in their hair throwing insults at Tobio, ranging from "heartless" to "betrayer".

She doesn't know what happened, but she knows for a fact that Nanoka is getting interrogated on the bus ride home.

**Culture Notes:**

**Achaa*:** "Aww man." or "Shucks." There are variations like "Aryaa", which is more feminine.

**Donmai**:** Japan's shortened version of "Don't mind." Used to cheer up someone when they make a mistake or failed something.

**A/N:**

I'm dooooone! I think this is a pretty good pace of writing, seeing that I'm also writing school assignments and rp alongside this. My first exams are next week and I'm not ready for them, ugh. College.

I wanted to focus on Kageyama's lack of support in his middle school life. It's hinted in the manga that Kageyama didn't have any friends in middle school. In this fic, Kindaichi and Kunimi are on speaking terms with Kageyama because he really hasn't done anything to push them away yet. It'll happen eventually though. I think being compared to Oikawa doesn't really do well on his reputation either, since many students see Oikawa as this perfect human being.

Thanks for reading!

Luca


	3. Tobio-kun

**April**

At Kitagawa Daiichi, there is an official rule of no students on school grounds after 6PM. While the school encouraged hard work and dedication from their students, they preferred their students home by dinner, rather than getting an insane amount of phone calls from worried and annoyed mothers alike.

"Chop chop boys, gotta get this place sparkling by 5:50!" Clapping his hands twice, the coach orders the middle schoolers in his native Miyagi dialect. Five boys race back and forth with rags in their palms, wiping down the gym floor while the rest of the boys put away the volleyball equipment. Beside the coach, the pre-teen manager jots down notes about today's progress. Oikawa and Iwaizumi are rolling the net stands to the storage shed when the adult calls out to the brunet.

"Oikawa, c'mere sec." Oikawa immediately lets go of the pole, leaving Iwaizumi to hoist two large metal bars across the gym. Iwaizumi mutters under his breath, but doesn't say anything out loud. Oikawa has captain duties after all.

"What's up, Coach?" Coach grunts and shows him his clipboard, with has the familiar scrawls of circles and boxes. _Formations.___

"I've been watching the first years for a while now, and I can gauge which position and what attacks work best for each of them. I just wanted a second opinion." Oikawa hmmed, nodding at the sketches.

"Kunimi is good at this particular move, but I noticed that Kunimi has an interesting habit of holding back." Coach makes a disgruntled expression.

"Is he being lazy? There are no need for lazy players on _my _team!" Oikawa waves his hands in a placating manner.

"No, no, no! It's a good thing! You see, by the end of the second set, most of us will be exhausted and way past our peak performance. But since Kunimi has been saving up his energy…" Coach's eyes narrowed.

"He can be our back up."

"Exactly."

"Hn. I'll let his slack slide for the time being then. If what you say doesn't work out, I'm holding it over your head!" Oikawa sticks his tongue out at the corner of his mouth, smiling cheekily.

"Don't worry sir, I only have good intentions in mind!" The Coach waves him away with a scoff, and Oikawa bounces over to an awaiting Iwaizumi, who holds Oikawa's backpack in his hand, his own school issued messenger bag already slung over his shoulder. They set out, not bothering to change back into their school uniform for their trek home.

"Oikawa-kuun!"

Oikawa instinctively plasters on a grin, ignoring Iwaizumi's immediate grumpy expression. Chiharu, one of his more dedicated fans, bounces up to him, a little plastic bag in his hand. Oikawa already knows what it is-he received three of them earlier in the day. Today was home economics day, and the girls were taught how to make cookies. Which is silly, because cookies didn't have much nutrition unless it was jampacked with fruit, so why home economics taught how to bake cookies rather than protein rich stews or survival dishes for when the electricity goes out or whatnot did not make sense to the older boy.

But it's free food, so who is he to complain. Half listening to Chiharu's demure words, he notices another girl trudge past them and recognizes her as Tobio's brand new girlfriend as of yesterday. Now that he thinks about it, isn't she Chiharu's best friend? Odd that he never really saw her around before.

"- so would you like to accept these? I'm not the best chef but..." Oikawa's eyes focuses back onto the light brunette, facial expression unchanged. Her words of fake modesty are amusing.

"Of course, I appreciate any gifts that are made with love and hard work." Chiharu flutters her hands, face blushing.

"I -I never said love, Oikawa- kun, stop assuming things!" She shyly slaps Oikawa's arm and he laughs along good naturedly.

"Haru, are you coming?"

Oikawa, Iwaizumi, and Chiharu turn to Nanoka, who has returned from fetching Tobio from inside the gym. Tobio obviously did not expect his girlfriend to come pick him up, hovering behind her uncertainly. He doesn't know what to do and isn't very subtle about it. Nanoka has her school bag on her arm and is already wearing her school assigned loafers. A quick glance tells the volleyball captain that Chiharu has her bag, but is still wearing her indoor shoes. Oikawa deduces that it was Nanoka who wanted to come to the gym to pick up Tobio, and Chiharu impulsively tagged along with the ulterior motive of giving him the cookies while making it look like a coincidence. Nanoka seems totally aware of it by the way she regards her best friend with an exasperated grimace that border-lined on annoyance. Chiharu nods and bids Oikawa a farewell, not once acknowledging Iwaizumi who stood beside him the entire time. The dark haired boy's disgruntled expression melts just slightly, when Nanoka gives him a small bow with her head before getting dragged away by her bickering best friend and boyfriend. ("Nanocchi, let me change my shoes!" "That's all the way on the other side of the building!" "Are you telling to me to leave my Coach loafers here overnight?!" "What the hell are couch loafers?!" "OH MY GOD")

Iwaizumi reads Nanoka's gesture as a bow of apology, and gives her a sympathetic nod in return.

Kunimi watches the interaction from afar, waiting for Kindaichi to return from the restroom._ Must be a babysitter thing._

-.-.-

Nanoka is not surprised to discover that Chiharu and Tobio do not get along. Neither of them have manners(Chiharu can pull them out of her ass when she needs to, but Tobio simply doesn't know when or how to use them.) and they both get riled up by the slightest insult. They both have goal driven personalities and disregard anything that doesn't benefit them. They were basically the same person but with vastly different skills and interests.

"Oikawa-kun is going to become Japan's best setter, you can never beat him!"

"You don't even know what setters are! He's too unmotivated anyway."

"Whaaat?! How dare you! Oikawa-kun is the most motivated person I know-"

Nanoka sighs. She looks up and nearly groans out loud in relief at the lamp with with the Japan metro symbol.

"Haru, we're at your train stop." Nanoka orders Tobio to remain outside the station while she drags a whining a Chiharu into underground station.

"Didn't I already tell you that Tobio doesn't have a brain to mouth filter? You should take everything he says with a grain of salt." Chiharu digs through her bag for her pasmo* pass, grumbling.

"He always asks Oikawa-kun for tips but he says shit about him behind his back. I don't like that." Nanoka crossed her arms. She kept her face neutral as her best friend scans her card and goes through the turnstile onto the other side of the station.

"Oikawa-san isn't perfect, Haru, and neither is Kageyama-kun. They both have faults." Nanoka breaths through her nose tiredly. "Get home safely, Haru."

"Bye Nanocchi."

-.-.-

Tobio waits patiently for Nanoka to reappear from the train station. He has a frown on his face, for Nanoka's friend has insulted his superior volleyball skills. Tobio knows that he's talented-he can surpass Oikawa once he finds out what makes Oikawa a better setter than he is now. Since Oikawa is his senpai, isn't he supposed to teach Tobio how to be a better setter anyway? It's his obligation to leave behind a strong, if not stronger volleyball team once he graduates this year.

"Kageyama-kun, you're making a really scary expression." Tobio almost snaps his neck when he jerks his neck to his side, where Nanoka is peering up at him with wary eyes. During his pondering, Nanoka has returned from the station. From his view, Nanoka looked like a doe: a bit scared, a bit curious, but mostly adorable. Was it wrong of him to think that? _Aren't older girls supposed to be...what's the word? Se..sekushii?_ Tobio muses. _Her lower lashes are almost as long as her upper ones_. _I wonder if they ever get tangled in the morning. I hate it when mine gets all clumpy with mucus when I wake up- _"Kageyama-kun, are you tired or something?" Tobio blinks out of his thoughts and notices belatedly that Nanoka is ahead of him by several paces, an irritated expression on her face at his lack of footing in the real world. Her pout emphasizes the baby fat still prominent on her cheeks. Tobio flushes at his sudden awareness of Nanoka's facial features.

"Sorry, Arakita-senpai." Nanoka quirks an eyebrow at the suffix and lowers her hands from the vice grip she had on her bag.

"I think you should stop calling me that. I mean, our relationship is different now." Embarrassed at her own words, Nanoka tucks a strand of hair behind her ears and glares down at her scuffling feet on the cement ground. Tobio flusters at Nanoka's submissive body language, unable to comprehend that she is being shy, and not afraid or scared like everyone else around him.

"Senpai, w-what?" Nanoka furrows her eyebrows and points a finger at him.

"That. That senpai thing. We're," Nanoka takes a deep breath. "We're dating now, aren't we?" Tobio blinks twice before his pale face explodes with warmth. "K-Kageyama-kun! Are you alright?!" Nanoka can literally see the steam coming out of his ears. Tobio squats to the floor, face buried in his hands. Now that Nanoka's embarrassment has worn off, seeing Tobio's embarrassment is hilarious and cute. She barely restrains a smile and coo, for that would be rude when Tobio is suffering. "Kageyama-kun, if it's too much of a big step, we can just start with surnames? I'm already calling you Kageyama-kun, so why don't you call me Arakita-chan?" Nanoka involuntarily cringes at her own name.

A long time ago, her ancestors were a family of fierce warriors in, what did grandpa say, Meiji period? Or was it Edo? Either way, basically every male in the line were commanders, captains, war advisors, or something related to violence, with the occasional samurai in the family tree. Because of this, the already masculine name Arakita became even manlier. Adding a suffix like -chan to it just seems...wrong.

Nanoka scrunches her nose and hikes up her bag.

"Nanoka-chan works too, I guess. Whichever rolls." Tobio raises his head from his hands, cheeks still faintly pink with the afterglow of the blush. He makes a constipated expression, which Nanoka knows by now as his thinking face.

"Nanoka...san." Nanoka raises her eyebrows, but let the name roll around in her head. _Huh, it doesn't sound too bad. But adding san still implies that our relationship isn't intimate, so my surname and chan is still better, no matter how odd it sounds...it doesnt sound _that_ odd, right?_

"San? Is that what you prefer?" Tobio scrambles up, face pinched.

"Arakita-chan sounds too weird!"_ I'll give you that, but no need to say it to my face._ "And Nanoka-chan is too..." He looks away bashfully. "...Familiar." Nanoka shudders, biting her lower lip in an attempt to contain a grin. Tobio is too cute for his own good. She's probably going to have to battle rival after rival to keep her girlfriend status. _Wait, but didn't Kageyama say I'm the only girl thats nice to him? Does that mean girls bully him because he's so cute? _Nanoka glances at a still glowering Tobio. _He did seem hard to approach in the beginning though. His attitude comes off as brash when you don't know that he doesn't mean any _

_offense... _Tobio's face when she gave him the carton of drinkable yoghurt comes to mind. Her heart clenches. _It must have been lonely. _Nanoka turned her body to face Tobio, puffing her chest and standing at her full height.

"Nanoka-chan is fine, Kage-Tobio-kun." Tobio freezes at his first name. He mechanically turns to Nanoka, who even at her full height, can only reach his chin.

"What?"

"We're going to become familiar enough with each other, so that using first names won't sound weird." Nanoka hesitates, but grabs the sleeve of his gakuran with her index finger and thumb. She glares up at him and Tobio jolts back in surprise at her determined expression. "We'll get there."

-.-.-

Oikawa gags.

"That is the grossest thing I have ever seen in my life."

Yasui hugs his bento to his chest protectively in a way that reminded Tobio of a child and their favorite doll. "You're just saying that because you're jealous." Oikawa scoffs. Iwaizumi rolls his eyes from beside him. _Here we go again._

"Please, I get karebens** everyday. I don't even have to buy lunch anymore."

"Oh? What's with your pre-packaged bread lunch today then?" This time, Oikawa pulls his milk bun protectively to his chest, as if he's cradling an infant bunny. He puffs out his cheeks and looks away with a pout.

"I was in a milk bun mood today." Yasui, deciding to be the adult in the situation, sighs and lets the topic drop.

The volleyball team is eating lunch at the courtyard right outside the gymnasium, since Coach asked for a quick ten minute meeting before they eat during break. It was a simple pace-maker: how long they'll practice, when the next practice match is, what they'll focus their practice on. Afterwards, the boys sprawled out on the grass and benches, too lazy to climb the flights of stairs to their respective classrooms to join their friends for lunch.

Tobio and Kindaichi peer over Yasui's shoulder. The second year's lunchbox is full of vivid colors: roasted bell peppers, baby corn wrapped in bacon, carrots cut into flowers, little fried chickens with sesame seeds mixed in the batter, and the rice has a furikake*** sprinkled in the shape of a big heart.

Kindaichi makes a face similar to Oikawa's gag, shielding his face dramatically.

"Ugh, so bright!" Yasui fumes, whirling around in his seat to face his kouhai.

"What is everyone's problem with my girlfriend's lunch?! Jeez!" Tobio blinks.

"Your girlfriend made this? Not your mom? Aren't bentos made by moms?" Bewildered, Yasui raises his eyebrows while Oikawa howled with laughter until Iwaizumi slaps him across the face.

"Yeees, but when your girlfriend loves you very very much, she spends an hour each morning making a heartfelt, thoughtful, bento full of love for you." Yasui swoons, hearts floating around him. Iwaizumi has Oikawa in a chokehold, so he is unable to make a snide comment. Tobio looks awed. _Girlfriends make bentos for their boyfriends if they love him? _Nanoka's face pops into his mind. Being a novice at social relations, Tobio connects the incorrect dots in his mind. Since Nanoka said yes to becoming his girlfriend, it must mean she's in love with him. Therefore, she must have a bento box made for him today!

Tobio scarfs down his convenience store riceball and gets up. Yasui looks up at him. "Where are you going in a hurry?"

"I need to pick up my bento from Araki-Nanoka...chan." Tobio flees the scene, and the team stares after him before erupting into multiple frantic conversations.

"Arakita-san made lunch for him? And he forgot?!"

"Wait, wait, did Kageyama just call Arakita-san Nanoka-chan? When did this happen?!"

"Yesterday? He asked her out in this courtyard. Really rudely too!"

"I would have never thought Arakita-san...wow."

"Hmph. She'll break up with him once she realizes how much of a brat he is."

"Oikawa shut your trap."

Ten minutes later, Tobio mysteriously returns without a bento box. Instead, he has a cafeteria yakisoba bread in his hands. Confused, Yasui shifts over to let Tobio sit back on the grass beside him.

"What happened to the bento?" Tobio still looks spaced out. He mutters,

"She didn't make one." Yasui and Iwaizumi spit out their drink. Iwaizumi furiously wipes at his mouth before yelling,

"You went to her with the assumption that she made one for you?!" Iwaizumi jabs at finger at Yasui. "Yasui's been going out with his girlfriend for over a year, and that's her way of showing affection. And you, you started dating Arakita-san yesterday! Don't assume all girlfriends make bentos!" Oikawa lets out a low whistle at the heaving Iwaizumi.

"Wow, Iwa-chan, passionate much? Did someone expect you to make a bento for them-OWW!" Retracting his foot from Oikawa's back, Iwaizumi huffs.

"My older sister is taking a Women's Rights course in college and is making me proofread her essays. This shit is real." Thoroughly chastened, Tobio has shrunken into himself in an unconscious attempt to disappear. Realizing he came off as intimidating, Iwaizumi sighs and plops back onto the ground. "Sorry Kageyama, I didn't mean to yell." Kageyama nods, clutching his yakisoba bread. Yasui finally notices the food in his hands and salivates. Yakisoba bread was his favorite!

"Did you drop by the cafeteria? I'm surprised they have any left, they usually sell out in 15 minutes." Kageyama looks down at his second lunch.

"No, Nanoka-chan had it and gave it to me." Yasui smiles.

"That's nice of her!" From beside Oikawa, Iwaizumi makes a disgruntled expression.

"Arakita probably saved it for last…" Oikawa giggles, elbowing Iwaizumi lightly in the ribs.

"Awfully fond of Arakita-chan, aren't we? Do we have a cruuush?" Iwaizumi scoffs, wrestling Oikawa onto the ground. Oikawa fights back with fevor.

"Like you have the right to say anything. I saw you asking Chiharu about Arakita today. What was up with that?" Oikawa makes a quick glance to ensure that no one overheard Iwaizumi's retort. He is safe for now. He yanks on Iwaizumi's left arm, and uses the momentum to roll on top.

"I was just worried about my precious kouhai, that's all." The dark haired boy knees Oikawa in the stomach, dislodging the captain from his place above. They grapple, push, and shove, their teammates paying no heed to them as this was a common occurrence. Testosterone and sports always lead to a physical altercation or two. Or five.

"Right. Because you get along with Kageyama so well."

"I can be caring when I want to!" Oikawa says indignantly. "He's going to replace me after all." Iwaizumi stops his pushing, letting Oikawa slide out from underneath him.

"Why do you always think like that?" Iwaizumi grumbles, looking Oikawa straight in the eyes. The brunet quickly turns his head and gets up, patting off the grass from his knees. He silently offers Iwaizumi a hand, which he takes. They return to their circle of team mates.

-.-.-

The moment the freshman leaves their classroom with a blank face from shock, Chiharu accidentally lets out a snort of laughter escape from between her fingers. Nanoka turns to her, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Did that just happen?" Chiharu lets go of her mouth and finally releases the laughter that was building up in her chest.

"That totally just happened! Nanocchi, _I'm dying_." Her glee causing her lungs to constrict, Chiharu bends over to alleviate the pain, but is unable to stop the giggles that pours out between her pink lips. Nanoka frowns down at her table, mourning the loss of her lunch. She was saving the best for last...

"I wonder where Tobio-kun got such an idea." Nanoka ponders. Chiharu rolls her eyes as she hoists her upper body back onto the desk they share for lunch. Chiharu's small bento was already packed and wrapped, sitting innocently besides Nanoka's pile of empty plastic wrappers.

"Probably self help books for dating." Nanoka almost spits out the chocolate milk she just sipped from her carton. Chiharu grins at her obnoxiously as Nanoka wipes her chin.

"Oh my god, he probably thinks I'm a horrible girlfriend now, I should have made a bento." The brunette does a double take.

"What? No! You don't have to make him a bento! He probably gets a three tiered bento from his butler!" Nanoka looks at her best friend with wide eyes.

"Tobio-kun has a butler?" Chiharu nods with conviction.

"And his name is Sebastian." At those words, Nanoka slouches with an eye roll.

"Now you're just messing with me." Chiharu nods with conviction again, face still serious.

"I am. It doesn't change the fact he's loaded though." Nanoka narrows her eyes.

"And you know this how?"

"Moe-chan told me someone saw him enter a mansion on their way home." Nanoka slaps her own face, leaving a light pink hand print on her pale cheek as she drags it down, showing the whites of her eyes. She should know better than to take any information coming from Chiharu seriously.

"It could just be a friend or relative's house, you guys need to stop jumping to conclusions." Chiharu lets out a whine and pulls at her pig tails.

"I would have more solid info if Kageyama actually talked about himself to people!" She adds with a grumble, "Not that he has any friends to talk to." Nanoka drawls as the bell signalling the end of lunch rings.

"You're impossible." Chibaru turns the chair she was sitting in backwards so it faced the front, sending a smile to the classmate who lets her sit there so she can dine on Nanoka's desk. Nanoka scoots her chair back, gathering the garbage on her table, brushing the crumbs onto her palm. She returns to her seat from the back of the room where the garbage pail is, and takes out the textbooks and notebooks for the upcoming class. Pulling out her Mimmie Mouse**** mechanical pencil, she taps it against the bottom lip as she waits for her classmates to settle down. _Tobio-kun obviously was really looking forward to the bento-I knew girlfriend's make karebens, but I guess it's a responsibility that's there from the beginning? He looked so disappointed... I'm such a bad girlfriend, I should probably buy one of those self help books too. I've never dated before so it should help me set guidelines. _With that resolve, Nanoka scrawls 'get dating advice book' into her pastel pink planner.

-.-.-

"Arakita-chan!" Nanoka pauses pulling her loafers on midway, looking around for the caller. When her brown eyes settle on the brunette in the green t-shirt, her eyes widen and lips become agape. She blinks, trying to process this information before settling into a familiar grimace.

"Hello Oikawa-senpai." Pleased that Nanoka knows his name despite never introducing himself, Oikawa bounces over, his duffle bag knocking into his hip. Nanoka tenses at the close proximity with the exuberant stranger.

"What's with the long face? Did Tobio-chan upset you already?" Nanoka tightens her grip on her bag, wedging her heel into her left shoe rather than bending down to slip it on. She inches away from Oikawa's unwavering charming smile.

"I always look like this, senpai. Also Tobio-kun did nothing wrong. Why would you assume that?" She narrows her eyes at Oikawa, and he offers a casual shrug. From what she gathered from her visits to the gym along with gossip from Chiharu, Oikawa definitely doesn't like Tobio. He seems to have some sort of complex that stems from Tobio showing promise while still being younger than him. So why would Oikawa start associating with his rival's girlfriend? If he's trying to cause trouble between her and Tobio, he has another thing coming. Annoyance sparks in her, and Nanoka tries to weave around him to head to the entrance. Oikawa seems to have other plans in mind, and quickly falls into stride beside her, grinning all the while. Nanoka huffs.

"Aren't you going to come watch us practice?" Oikawa asks. "The gym isn't that way you know." Nanoka doesn't slow her pace, refusing to make eye contact in case it prolongs the conversation. She also does not want to seem friendly with him, because the last thing she wants is Chiharu accusing her of seducing the volleyball captain behind her back.

"I'm a second year, Oikawa-senpai. I know my way around." Oikawa tilts his head slightly to the right in an attempt to look innocently confused.

"So you're not going to support your spanking new boyfriend?" Nanoka's eyebrow twitches. She abruptly stops speed walking, nearly causing Oikawa to trip over himself while putting on the breaks. He shakes his head to resettle the flyaways in his hair from the jerking motion. Nanoka turns towards him, her wispy black hair whipping behind her.

"I'll support him in my own way, please keep your nose out of our relationship." Nanoka's heart drums with adrenaline, never having spoken to an upperclassmen that way. But ...but Oikawa just made her so _mad_! Fortunately for Nanoka, Oikawa was used to underclassmen talking to him without the formalities, and he brushes it off easily after absorbing the fact that Chiharu's little tag along might not be so meek afterall.

Oikawa's relationship with Chiharu, the second year Queen Bee, is playful at it's best, and manipulative at it's worst. He knows she has an infatuation with him(many girls do),

and he neither discourages or encourages it. Having a supporter high in the social rank ladder like Chiharu on his side does wonders for his reputation. So while she's absolutely irritating at times with her squeals and incessant need to check her hair in the mirror every five minutes, Oikawa puts up with her. He has to admit though, Chiharu occasionally says things that no shallow girl would even think about. They are the reminders that the very Chiharu he finds annoying is most likely not Chiharu at all.

Oikawa smiles disarmingly at the lanky girl in front of him.

He's going to peel Nanoka's mask off.

**Culture Notes**

_Pasmo*: _The Japanese metrocard. There's another brand called Suica, but it does the same thing. Unlike NY metrocards where we swipe, in Japan we simple scan our cards. The scanner's pretty strong, since I've literally just hovered my entire bag on the scanner and it read it. Kind of scary actually...

_Kareben**_: shortened version of kareshi bentou, which literally translates to Boyfriend Lunch. A boyfriend's significant other makes them.

_Furikake***_: rice topping.

_Mimmie Mouse****_: I refuse to be sued.

_**A note on suffixes-**_

The most formal is Last Name-sama ("Oikawa-sama"). The most casual is a nickname (like "Iwa-chan" and "Haru") or simply a first name with or without a chan/kun("Nanoka-chan"). Kun's can be used on both sexes, but only if that person is under you(underclassmen, employee, etc). Everyone has preferences, and it says a lot about who they are. Formalities are super important in Japanese culture. If you address a teacher without a sensei, you're getting a eraser to your forehead. It's a sign of disrespect, and respect is important in Japanese culture. If you go to Japan and call everyone by their first names, things can get uncomfortable because you're insinuating a closer relationship that what you actually have.

Always address elders with proper suffixes. Especially seniors /shudders.

If you need help making a name, addressing a certain character, want a Japanese nickname, PM me! I'm always open.

**AN:**

Thank you for reading chapter three! Previous followers may have noticed that I have changed the title from _Grimacing Girl_ to _The Daily Life of Nanoka Arakita_. After much planning ahead, I realized that using that title implicates a certain outcome, so to prevent biases, I made the title Nanoka centric. I think it's cute, and perfect for this story because of the teenage diary-esque wording. Kudos to **Bergliot-Manner** for giving me that title!

Another shoutout to **Rhea Ellace**, who brought to my attention a joke in the manga I overlooked. There was a scene where Suga calls Tobio a 'fish out of water', which plays on his first name, which can also be heard as a breed of fish, though the kanji is different (people name their children after fish for good luck and fortune, etc. My friend's name is Tai, which is a red snapper.). Tsukishima envisions a fish with Tobio's head on it, which hints that he didn't get the undertone of the joke and literally thought of Tobio as a flying fish. Ummm, it's like how Tsukishima's first name is read as Kei instead of Hotaru (firefly), though that's just as valid as a name. Thank you for correcting my misunderstanding!

I put up a pairing poll for Nanoka on my profile. I think most of you have a pretty good gist of Nanoka's character by now, so I wanted to see who you think Nanoka is compatible with. Don't choose your favorite character- pretend she's your friend and you want to matchmake her. Who will she get along best with? If you have intense feelings about it, PM me or mention it in your review and I'll gladly share those intense feelings with you.

Once again, thanks for reading!

donut


	4. Papa

A/N: College has taken a bite of my soul.

-.-.-

"Kageyama, there's someone here to see you."

Tobio raises his head from where his nose was stuck in a monthly volleyball magazine, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Kindaichi and Kunimi also peer their heads over Tobio's shoulder to see their teammate's very first visitor.

It is Nanoka, standing by the door in all her upperclassmen glory and confidence. Tobio shoots out of his slouched seating position, causing his desk and chair to clatter and turn his classmate's attention to him.

"N-N-Nanoka!" He exclaims. He rushes to the door to greet his senpai… girlfriend. Nanoka quirks her eyebrow at him, a half smile on her lips.

"What happened to Nanoka-chan?" Tobio flusters, waving his hands around, neck becoming warm.

"I-" Nanoka shrugs.

"It's no big deal. Whatever you're more comfortable with." Tobio purses his lips sharply and glares at the ground, thinking he had somehow offended her. He was never good at talking to or understanding girls, or even people, at the matter. He sincerely does want to become better at talking to people, but he just doesn't know where he messes up and why certain things are better left unsaid. Isn't telling the truth a good thing? Nanoka sighs at the doom and gloom forming around Tobio and raises her hand towards him. "Here. For you."

In her hand is a parcel wrapped in a navy and red polk-a-dot handkerchief. Its size was about half of a campus notebook, kind of like-

"Is that..." Tobio hesitantly accepts the box, eyes wide in wonder. Slightly embarrassed by his awed expression, Nanoka fingers her bangs, playing with the upturned fringe.

"It's a bento. You really looked like you wanted one yesterday, and I felt bad..." Nanoka looks down at her indoor slippers, cheeks tinting pink. Tobio's stomach is filled with butterflies and he clutches the box to his chest. He kind of understands how Yasui feels now.

After a few seconds of awkward silence where they both faced the ground rather than each other, Nanoka gathers the nerve to look up first.

"Haru is waiting for me so..." Tobio snaps his head up, nodding vigorously.

"Right."

"Bye." She waves her fingers timidly and starts edging away. Tobio looks back down at the bento before facing her, ears burning.

"T-thanks. For the kareben." Nanoka's eyes widen a fraction at the last word before a muffled laugh slips from between her lips. She didn't even know Tobio used such slang, so hearing it in his voice with his totally serious expression just tickles her sides. Tobio flushes even further at being laughed at, but obediently stays put as Nanoka turns the corner, a smile on her face after Tobio put her in a good mood.

Waking up at 6AM was worth it.

-.-.-

Tobio and Nanoka had traded numbers the day he confessed to her, with awkward, fumbling fingers. Nanoka was shocked at Tobio's ancient cell phone, to which Tobio admits that it is his father's second hand. It occasionally shuts off by itself and runs out of battery like no tomorrow, but he doesn't call or text much so he didn't mind.

_"You need to ask your parents for new phone. What if you end up in an emergency and your phone shuts off?_" Nanoka instructed with a stern frown. Tobio never thought of that before, and it seemed like a possible issue in the future. What if there was a volleyball match on the television and he forgot to ask his mother to set the DVR?

"Tobio, come down for dinner!"

Tobio perks up at his mother's voice. He hollers back, knowing his voice will echo down the hall and stairs and to his caregiver.

"Coming!" Tobio closes his English Level One workbook (he didn't even get a page finished...), and is about to head down when the phone sounds a beep. Tobio looks at it in surprise. Both his mother and father are downstairs, which means-Tobio snatches the phone up and flips it open hurriedly.

_How's your homework going? -7_

It is a simple check up message, casual, meaningless, and brief.

But it's a beginning. It's a start to a connection outside of school, where they can ask silent questions and learn about each other._ And not have that stupid brunette interrupt_. Tobio inwardly scowls. Nanoka and he have yet to have a proper date, let alone a conversation without the girl-Haru?-taking part in it. Tobio is Nanoka's boyfriend, so Nanoka should obviously prioritize him over any of her friends. That's what it means to be dating, isn't it?

_Not well_, Tobio types. He pauses, and then presses the delete button and retypes the text.

_Smoothly. -T_

No need for Nanoka to know he's struggling in subjects other than math too. That's embarrassing.

"Tobio!" Tobio places the phone on the table after sending it, stomping out of his room and down the stairs. "Jeez, what took you so long? Your father has given up waiting for you and already started eating!" Tobio's mother chides. Tobio grunts, sitting across his father at the dinner table as his mother makes tea.

Tobio's father is a tall man with a fiercer resting bitch face than Tobio and a frown deeper than Nanoka's. He works at some big shot corporation that sends him off to god knows where for days at a time, establishing global connections and deals for the company. Tobio looks up to his father as a role model, despite cursing him for the permanent angry expression he inherited from him. His father is smart, cool, and takes on any problem head first without blinking an eye. Tobio has a long way to go before he's even near his father's league.

Tobio's mother on the other hand is a delicate little thing. If Tobio's father is a tiger, she is a rabbit. Many things scare his mother, and she sheds tears easily (especially during emotional scenes in daytime soaps). His mother is rather quiet in public, but in the house she nags at Tobio like there's no tomorrow. In order to make up for her husband's absence, his mother takes up the roles of both spoiler and punisher in their household. She controls Tobio's consumption of snacks and television, but gives him enough monthly allowance to to buy five volleyball magazines.

The three quietly consume the dinner after Tobio and his mother said their thanks for the

food. Tobio's mind races a mile a second, trying to think of a casual way to mention his ratty phone without seeming ungrateful for what he has. Tobio panics when he sees his father's empty plate.

"F-father!" Tobio's breath hitches in his throat when the older man's beady eyes snap to him, eyes unconsciously narrowing.

"Yes?" Tobio swallows thickly and wrings at the tablecloth. He stutters out,

"I...I was wondering if I can talk to you." He cringes at his shameful stutter. Tobio hates it when he messes up in front of his father.

"About?" Tobio's father hands his dirty dishes to Tobio's mother's awaiting hands. He lets out an audible sigh that makes Tobio shrink into himself further.

"The cell phone. My cell phone. It doesn't work right because it's so...old. I..." Tobio feels the blood rushing behind his ears and he grinds out his request from between his teeth. "I want a new one." Tobio immediately feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders and he slumps into his seat.

Across from Tobio, his father hums in contemplation. Tobio rarely asks for anything from him, let it be a volleyball, movie ticket, or even homework help. It did hurt his feelings slightly when he discovered that his wife is the person Tobio runs to with needs and complaints, even when he was home during his rare paid vacations. He glances at the kitchen, where his wife is quietly beaming at him, urging him to respond to their only son. Tobio's father turns his head to Tobio, who has picked up his chopsticks and resumed eating, albeit at a much slower pace than usual, to make sure he can swallow whatever he puts in his mouth in order to reply to whatever his father says.

Tobio tends to grow up the most while he's away.

"Okay." Tobio did not expect such an easy agreement from his father and accidentally breaks out into a grin.

"Really?!" Taken aback at Tobio's enthusiasm, his father blinks, before nodding jerkily. The joy infectious, the usually stoic father makes a small smirk.

"We will go shopping. How about this Sunday?" Tobio's father ignores his wife's coos. Tobio beams at him._ Shopping! With father! _

"Yes! I'm free!"

-.-.-

"Ehhh? But you said _we_ were going to hang out on Sunday!" Nanoka exclaims incredulously, lowering her chopsticks from her mouth. "We planned for this since Monday." Disappointment fills her gut. From beside her, Chiharu glares at Tobio, making him sweat nervously. They are eating lunch in Nanoka and Chiharu's classroom, since it is custom for underclassmen to accommodate to upperclassmen. Nanoka does not mind either way, but Chiharu drilled the unspoken rules into Tobio, so he now comes to their classroom every lunch period.

"But it's father..." Reading between the lines, Nanoka sighs. Tobio obviously respected his father, and couldn't say no to him. She's only his girlfriend of a month, so it makes sense that Tobio prioritized his father's time over hers. _It's not a big deal, it's just a date. Family always takes priority, right?_

"I guess it can't be helped..." Chiharu whips her head to glare at Nanoka.

"You called dibs on that day first! That's not fair to you!" Tobio looks down shamefully and Nanoka chastises Chiharu for her unnecessary outburst. Chiharu is technically right, but Tobio was already feeling bad so the brunette didn't need to rub salt into his wound.

"Haru, stop it. It's okay." She tucks her side bang behind her ear only for it to bounce back into place. The corner of Tobio's lip twitches at her exasperated frown. She turns to him and he quickly lowers his lips into a straight face. "We'll just push it back to next Sunday. Is that alright?" Tobio nods with assurance.

"That's fine." Nanoka smiles at him and returns to eating her bento. Chiharu huffs, but keeps her mouth shut.

Lunch period comes to a close and Tobio wraps up his lunch after clapping his hands.

"Thank you for the meal."

"You're welcome."

Nanoka walks Tobio to the classroom entrance as usual to send him off. Tobio turns towards her, expression expectant.

"You're coming to watch me practice today, right?" Nanoka sighs at his stubbornness. Tobio has been drilling her the past two weeks to attend volleyball practice with him, but Nanoka is busy trying to find a new recruit to replace Fukuchi. So far no one seems interested, for in this modern society, a dying art like calligraphy is the same as using a pager instead of a cell phone. Outdated. Lame. _Boring_.

Nanoka doesn't want it to wither away without at least trying to fight its imminent death.

"Tobio-kun, I have my own club, remember? I'm the president, I have obligations." Tobio tsks, glowering. Nanoka narrows her eyes.

"No one even attends your club." He mutters. He knows of the situation with her two person Calligraphy club since the topic has risen numerous times during their lunches.

_But that does not give him the right to make fun of my hard work._

Nanoka grabs his left ear and pulls hard, eliciting a painful yelp from the volleyball player. Tobio is about to yell at her but he swallows his words at Nanoka's scolding expression. He grunts at the ground, rubbing at his now sore ear.

"Sorry," Nanoka wordlessly pats his head (she has to reach up higher now since he grew another couple centimeters) and sends him off wordlessly with a push. She watches Tobio sulk down the hallway before returning to Chiharu, who has already arranged the desk and seats to face the front. Chiharu pouts up at her, lips shining from her reapplied lip gloss.

"I hate him." Nanoka rolls her eyes and pinches her best friend's cheek, not enough to cause pain, but enough to sting. Chiharu immediately turns her face away to dislodge her fingers, and rubs at her cheek. The action does not deter Chiharu from expressing her opinions.

"Now now," Frowning, Chiharu grabs Nanoka's arm, preventing her from moving across the room to her seat.

"He's so childish, Nanocchi! He only thinks about himself and is sooo rude to you now! You ought to break up with him!" Since the teacher hasn't arrived yet, Nanoka lingers, staring down into Chiharu's bright amber eyes. She has a little bit of mascara smudged on the bottom of her eyelids. Nanoka reaches out and gently wipes it off. Chiharu doesn't even blink. Nanoka has always taken care of Chiharu, why does she have anything to fear from her?

"Haru, you were all for me dating him in the beginning. What happened?" Nanoka muses.

"He opened his mouth, that's what happened." The calligrapher resists the urge to roll her eyes again.

"I told you a few weeks ago and I'll say it again, he has his own flaws as much as you have yours. He's a good guy, Haru. He means well." Chiharu grumbles under her breath, but lets go of Nanoka's arm. Nanoka smiles a little at the similar way Tobio and Chiharu admit defeat-they glower and say mean things just to have the last word. They are a lot more alike than they think. Nanoka doesn't think it is a good time to bring it up though, so she wisely keeps the thought to herself. Chiharu will simply throw a tantrum at being 'likened to a jerk'.

Their teacher, Wakamatsu arrives, slapping a pile of papers against the chalkboard to get their attention. Nanoka weaves through her classmates to get to her seat, Chiharu's eyes watching her with unwavering intensity. Nanoka doesn't notice.

"Kids, guess what I have for you today?" At the cheerful question, everyone glances at each other warily before a blonde in the front whimpers out a reply.

"A pop quiz?" The teacher beams, and everyone's day in class 2-E becomes significantly worse. Nanoka can hear Chiharu's dramatic groan from across the room and smothers a giggle.

"Come on, Waka-chan-sensei! We just had one, like, yesterday!" A kendo club member exclaims. His flock of beefheads crow in agreement. Wakamatsu pushes up his glasses and strikes a pose, smirking.

"Aha! I knew someone was going to say that so I checked my calendar before coming here! Our last pop quiz was approximately six days ago! You can't fool me, Yoshikuni-kun!"

"Laaaame!" Yoshikuni boos. Wakamatsu huffs.

"You're lame! Also stop calling me Waka-chan-sensei, it's disrespectful! Now I'm passing the papers out, don't cheat you little rascals!" The class simultaneously drones out a conditioned 'yes sensei' and passes around the papers. Nanoka receives hers and easily completes it, for the questions are on the lecture from yesterday. It is still fresh on her mind. From across the room, she can see Chiharu biting at her Rirakkuma mechanical pencil viciously as she glared down at the slip of paper. Nanoka smiles sympathetically, and is caught staring when Chiharu looks up. The brunette immediately mouths to her, pointing down at her paper.

"Four?" Nanoka frowns, but looks down at her own paper. She pretends to yawn, using only three fingers to cover her mouth. Having done this before, Chiharu quickly circles option C on the quiz. When Chiharu turns to Nanoka to ask for another question, the student had purposely shifted her body to face the window. Chiharu pouts. _Its just a pop quiz, what's the big deal? Hmph._

When the quizzes are collected, Nanoka's phone vibrates with a text.

_Meanie_. -C

Nanoka does not bother replying and raises an eyebrow at Chiharu from across the room. The girl crosses her arms and raises her nose snootily before turning back towards the front.

If Nanoka wasn't such a goody two shoes, she would have given the answers to the whole test to Chiharu. But she had morals, and she believed that Chiharu will simply become more dependent on her in the future, which will be troublesome for both parties.

At the end of the day, Chiharu has obviously forgotten about Nanoka's 'betrayal', and eagerly follows Nanoka to their clubroom. It has been four weeks since Fukuchi quit, but Nanoka has yet to see any notice on the door to the Calligraphy room. She's sure it'll be any day now though. She unlocks the door and takes off her shoes, quietly taking in the messy studio before her. Most of her supplies have been packed into boxes already, and the calligraphy that was hanging above the window has been taken down and is leaning against the wall. Chiharu pulls out the ink stained, ratty cushions from under the shelf for them to sit on.

"I wonder how long I can take in this scenery," Nanoka murmurs. Chiharu looks up from her phone, a surprised expression on her pretty face.

"You didn't find a member yet?"

"Well, it's already the middle of the year and most students who were looking for clubs already found one by now..."

"Why don't you make a flyer or something? I'm sure there's a first year somewhere who's still looking for a club." Chiharu suggests. Nanoka prepares her inkstone and rice papers.

"Maaaaybe." Nanoka rubs the inkstone on the hot plate, slowly melting it into usable black liquid. Back and forth, she moves her arm, being careful of the pressure applied. This rhythm never fails to calm her. There has been a time she was so deep in thought during her ink making that she accidentally melts the whole stone, only noticing when the hot plate scorches her fingertips. There is still a stain on the tatami mat from that episode. She cringes, remembering how she cried the whole time she tried to scrub the black ink out of the woven bamboo. She didn't go home until the patrolling security guard found her sobbing in the dark. The guard pitied her so she was let go with a slap on the wrist. It was the second week of her first year after all, Nanoka thought she was going to get suspended. It wasn't until the then-President of the Calligraphy club reassured her that spills happen all the time. After that, Nanoka started to panic less and less at each mishap and finally has gotten to the point where she doesn't care. Or tries not to, at least. Nanoka is more concerned over the fact that she spaces out too much during calligraphy than the new addition to the stain collection on the room.

Nanoka often ends up deep in her thoughts because she likes to over think her problems. It was windy this morning, did she flash anyone? Was her egg roll too salty? Is her hair messy? Those girls over there are laughing-are they laughing at her? Nanoka tries not to be such a worrywart, but she is a self conscious perfectionist. It's impossible not to fret over the most menial things.

She likes to assess her problems from afar before picking at it in hopes that there are still salvageable parts. After that, she simply tries to accommodate to the problem in hopes that it'll go away eventually. It has worked fine so far, so Nanoka's isn't going to stop anytime soon.

Speaking of problems...Nanoka glances at her texting friend._ I really hope Haru will be nicer to Tobio-kun, it's really annoying when they always fight around me. I know she doesn't like Tobio-kun, but she's the older one so she should become the adult in the situation._ Nanoka brushes a few strokes to test the fluidity of the ink. _But Tobio-kun is at fault too… he needs to work on his manners because there are people in the world other than Haru who are sensitive to underclassmen who speak out of line. I mean, I think it's cute that he speaks honestly, but it doesn't work that way in society. Not everyone understands how cute Tobio-kun is._

"Nanoka, you're smiling weird." Nanoka drops the brush and immediately cups her cheek, blushing.

"W-what?!" Chiharu raises an eyebrow at the ruined paper and Nanoka' eyes follow her gaze. She groans. She messed up. Again.

"You were smiling like you were thinking about something really happy. But it was a little creepy." Nanoka balls up the rice paper and chucks it at the brunette. Chiharu squeals, swatting it back with her cellphone like a baseball bat. It coincidentally hits the corner of the wall and lands in the garbage can.

"Rude! My smile isn't creepy!" Chiharu schools her face into a serious expression.

"You're right. Your smile is downright horrifying." Nanoka gasps, deeply offended. She slaps the ground to convey her anger.

"Kichijou Chiharu! Apologize to me at once!" Chiharu simply sticks her tongue out at her, but quickly retracts it when Nanoka shoves a brush near her mouth.

"Hey, watch it! I almost bit my tongue!" Nanoka stands and starts chasing Chiharu, who looked borderline amused and terrified at the brush turned weapon.

"I'm going to write 'bully' on your tongue so everyone will know what kind of person you are when you open your mouth!" Chiharu screams.

"You're so barbara!" Nanoka tackles the smaller girl. She can't help but laugh at Chiharu's incorrect Japanese.

"It's barbaric, dummy!"

How funny. Chiharu just makes her forget all about her problems.

-.-.-

"-and that concludes the end of today's practice. I'll see you all tomorrow morning."

"Azassu!"

The Kitagawa Daiichi volleyball members scatter to collect their belongings and head to the clubroom to change. Oikawa hums contently, happy with the progress his team made in the span of a few hours. They have a practice match coming up next month against a formidable school, but Oikawa is sure his team will be up for the challenge. Feeling giddy, he slaps Iwaizumi's back repeatedly. His childhood friend shoves at him, knocking him into a passing Kindaichi. He growls.

"Stop that, Busukawa!" Oikawa immediately touches his face. (_Busu_ is 'ugly' in Japanese)

"Don't attack my face just because you're jealous ofBURGH." Iwaizumi kicks Oikawa's side, making him land on a heap on the gym floor. Iwaizumi tsks, walking away without looking back. Oikawa wobbly gets back on his feet with the help of Kindaichi and Kunimi. He catches them in an awkward embrace, sobbing dramatically.

"Oh my precious kouhais...only my babies care about poor papa…" Besides them, Tobio furrows his eyebrows.

"Papa?" Oikawa turns to him in afterthought and makes a shooing motion.

"Not you though, Tobio-chan. You're some illegitimate child Iwa-chan had out of wedlock." Yasui walks up to them, an amused expression on his face.

"Who did Iwaizumi-senpai cheat on you with to make Kageyama, papa?" Yasui asks, playing along. Oikawa hums in thought.

"Ummm…her!" Oikawa points. The boys follow the finger and blink at the girl who is at the end of the invisible laser beam Oikawa shot out. Kunimi, surprisingly, recognizes her silhouette first.

"Arakita-senpai?" Nanoka blinks, having just walked into the gym and haven't heard any of the previous conversation. She points to herself.

"Me?" Yasui snickers, dropping an arm around Tobio's shoulders.

"Arakita can't be Kageyama's mama, she's his girlfriend." Oikawa shakes his head, guiding the underclassmen under his arms towards the entrance where Nanoka is.

"Its because she doesn't know! I remember returning early to our mansion one night, and when I opened out master bedroom door… OH, THE HORROR!" Oikawa dramatically presses the back of his palm to his forehead and pretends to faint into Kindaichi's arms. Oikawa brings the bottom of his jersey to his mouth and bites it like an vengeful shoujo manga antagonist. "I saw them! I saw them!" He jabs his finger at Nanoka, and the second year girl looks alarmed, not understanding what Oikawa is talking about. Is there a rumor going around about her she doesn't know about?

"Saw what?!" Nanoka parrots in panic. Oikawa wails and lunges forward to grab Nanoka's shoulders, making her scream in surprise, which spurs the other boys to try to pull their captain off of the now terrified girl.

"I saw you in there with mama! You-you-huBUHUGH!" Nanoka is suddenly free when Oikawa's face is hit with a school bag. Kindaichi lets out a shriek.

"Oikawa-senpai!" Iwaizumi approaches them from behind Nanoka, whose heart is pounding a mile a minute from the shock. He places his hand on her shoulder but quickly retracts it when she flinches.

"Sorry." Iwaizumi grunts. Nanoka looks up at him for a few seconds before she finally recognizes him.

"Oh-oh! It's alright. Thank you, by the way." Tobio approaches her side, face pinched with worry.

"Are you okay?" Tobio asks, looking positively frightening(unintentionally). He's never seen Oikawa handle a girl like that so it caught him by surprise. Used to his extreme expressions by now, Nanoka nods, trying to calm herself by waving at her bright red face. Iwaizumi awkwardly scratches at his neck, now that Tobio is beside Nanoka, he feels like a third wheel. He stomps over at the still incapacitated Oikawa.

"Oi KusoOikawa! Who did you say was having an affair?!" Kunimi raises an eyebrow as Oikawa screamed apologizes, trying to hide behind Yasui, who isn't having it.

"At least be bad about the fact that you're the mom." Kunimi murmurs. Besides him, Kindachi chokes. Finally feeling a little more collected, Nanoka turns to Tobio.

"What was that about?" Tobio juts out his lower lip.

"You're my dad and Iwaizumi-senpai is my mom for some reason." Nanoka's eyes widen. _But I'm your girlfriend?!_

"What kind of dynamic is that? That's super uncomfortable for me!" She exclaims. "Tell Oikawa-senpai or Iwaizumi-senpai to take it back! Make me an aunt or something." Nanoka drags her fingers down her face in horror. "I don't want to date my own son!" Yasui howls with laughter.

"Arakita, Oikawa-senpai is just pulling your leg! I'm sure the joke will pass!" Nanoka scowls.

"It's still weird." The girl turns to Tobio remembering why she came. "By the way Tobio-kun, can I get my bento box back? That's the only spare one I have so I need it for tomorrow." Yasui nudges Tobio, smirking.

"Oh, finally getting those bento boxes you were dying for, huh?" Tobio flushes in embarrassment.

"I wasn't dying for them!" He splutters out. Nanoka smiles, feeling flattered despite his denial. Tobio runs to get his bad by the podium, before Nanoka's words finally sinks in. His legs give out under him and he squats, burying his face in his bag, not wanting anyone to see his uncontrollably grinning face.

_Nanoka is going to make him another bento._

-.-.-

**A/N:** Hi readers! Thanks for reading up to this point! I don't have any culture notes for this chapter since nothing really came up, but if there was anything that was confusing, drop me a PM or mention it in your review.

I wanted to focus on Nanoka's thought process and general attitude in this chapter, but I feel like I only got it partially done. Nanoka's an old fashioned girl, who was taught to respect her superiors and to be quiet and submissive, although she obviously loosens up around people she's comfortable with. I'll explore where she gets this attitude and her family background, hopefully, in the next chapter. It's a big part of the plot of this story so I want to get that across.

Regarding the poll I put up on my profile, unsurprisingly, Tobio is leading with 16 votes! Oikawa is right behind him with 14, and for some reason Kuroo is third with 10 votes even though Nanoka probably won't meet him until three years into the storyline. You guys are weird.

By the way, does anyone know when the Junior High volleyball competition is where Hinata meets Kageyama? They were wearing shorts so I'm assuming its around March/April, the end of the school year, but I don't want to make assumptions. Anyone have a more solid answer?

Uhhh, and that's it for the A/N I think. If you have any thoughts, comments, criticism for this story, do review! I reply to all of them if it's not anonymous.

Thanks for reading!

Donut (My U/N changed from rurululu to chinchilla donut, a belated heads up)


	5. A Memento

Sunday rolls around quietly.

Nanoka learns over the week that Oikawa will not pick on her if she sticks by Chiharu, which she is thankful for because she does not know what she will do if the volleyball captain calls her 'Kagepapa' in front of Chiharu.

Nanoka involuntary shudders at the thought.

On the positive side, she's now on speaking terms with Yasui, a fellow second year, and Iwaizumi, her senpai. Both are members of the volleyball club that Tobio is also a part of. They occasionally make small talk when they see each other in the hallway, and it is absolutely refreshing to have an idle conversation with someone other than Chiharu.

Yasui is a mellow, carefree student who adores his girlfriend and is only serious during volleyball matches and exam week. He easily starts addressing her as _Nanoka-san_ instead of the proper _Arakita-san_, but the transition happened so naturally that Nanoka doesn't have the heart to call him out.

Iwaizumi, on the other hand, is a grumpy senior who actually has a rather reserved personality despite his domineering presence. He intimidated her immensely, but watching him talk with people other than Oikawa revealed that Iwaizumi is mainly only volatile with the troublemaking brunet. And after he took care of the volleyball captain when he jumped her, Iwaizumi kind of holds a special place in her heart.

To be truthful, Nanoka never really thought about Iwaizumi as a person, but more of noisy lackey of Oikawa's that followed him around and yelled about everything. Now, she knows that it's the other way around(Oikawa follows Iwaizumi around like a lost puppy), and Iwaizumi yells at Oikawa because he seemed to have adopted some kind of maternal instinct to keep Oikawa in line whenever the volleyball captain gets carried away, and he's doing it not out of spite, but with good intentions.

Talking to Iwaizumi is a lot easier when Nanoka likens him to a character in a picture book she read as a child. It was a story about a grizzly bear who wanted to make friends, but everyone was afraid of him because of how big he was. She doesn't remember the plot well, but she remembers that the bear becomes friends with the animals in the forest with the help of a rabbit it saved. When Nanoka thinks of Iwaizumi as that bear in the picture book, habituating to his gruff voice and violent outbursts became a lot easier. Now she can take in the sight of Iwaizumi throwing his bag at Oikawa with a battle cry of "KUSO-OIKAWAAA!" without batting an eyelash. That idiot deserves it most of the time anyway.

Nanoka rolls onto her stomach on her bed, dressed in her room wear*, deeming it a lazy Sunday. She still feels disappointed whenever she thinks of how she could have been on a date with Tobio right now if it wasn't for his father, but she shouldn't be selfish since she's sure Tobio has his reasons.

There is a sharp knock at the door and Nanoka abruptly sits up and fixes her hair to make sure nothing gives away that she was in bed.

"Come in!"

The door creaks open to reveal an older, prim looking woman. The moment she steps into the room, she scrunches up her nose as if she smelled something foul. Nanoka self-consciously sniffs her armpits. Nope, she smells okay. She showered last night anyway.

"Nanoka," The woman starts, trailing her narrow eyes around the room. She finally settles her gaze back on the teenager in the room. "How long has that laundry been sitting there?"

"Oh," Nanoka gulps. She has gotten used to the odor the pile of clothing on her lounge chair emitted and hasn't noticed. "I'll do it today, mom." Her mother glares. "I-I'll do it now, actually!" Nanoka jumps out the bed and starts to gather the clothing in her arms. Her mother remains standing by the door, her arms crossed. Too afraid to question her motives, Nanoka keeps her eyes on the floor.

"I thought I raised you better. Haven't I told you to always do your chores the moment you get them?"

_Here we go again. _

Nanoka ducks her head shamefully, clutching her clothing.

"Yes mom."

"You need to fix this messy habit of yours before you get married, or else you'll send your husband off running for the hills." The older woman tuts. Nanoka clenches her teeth.

"Yes mom."

Her mother means well. Really. It is just that her mother was raised in a family and era where women didn't exactly have the best career prospects. For her mother, it was either becoming an office lady, secretary, teacher, nurse, or housewife. Nanoka's grandfather has arranged an omiai** for her mother and by the time she was 25, she was promptly married off to her father. After a few years of trying, she finally becomes pregnant with her older brother, Yasutomo, and with that, her mother lost the opportunity to ever make it on her own. At the age of 31, her mother is chained to their home.

Nanoka can never live that way, but her mother just doesn't understand. Her mother doesn't see the point of Nanoka going to college to get a bachelor's degree if she's just going to get married and settle down, never doing anything with the diploma she received. To her, it was a simple waste of money that could have been spent on her older brother, who actually has a bright future ahead of him because _he was a male and society likes males._

Nanoka tries to think a little more optimistically about her sex.

Her older brother, Arakita Yasutomo, is a year older than her. He attends a junior high school in Tokyo, and plans on attending a high school there too. If Nanoka had the option, she would have fled the prefecture to get away from her mother's nagging too.

It is unfair that Yasutomo gets to go to boarding school despite his delinquency and horrible grades. He is a yankee that wears his school uniform wrong and carries around a baseball bat to threaten people with. When he came home last summer, he threatened to 'shut her up for good' numerous times, making her take refuge in her room for the month of July until he returned to Tokyo. Nanoka misses the older brother he used to be. Dependable. Strong. Protective. Now he's just a jerk.

Nanoka is jostling her armful of laundry when on her bed, her cell phone lights up. She has shut off the noise and vibrate last night so she could study without interruptions, and she is thankful she hasn't changed the settings. While Nanoka's mother is distracted by the mess in her closet, Nanoka grabs her phone and hides it in the pile of dirty clothes.

"I'm going to do the laundry now," Nanoka announces, edging towards her door. Her mother waves her dainty hand distractedly.

"Make sure to separate the colors from the whites, Nanoka."

"Will do." The moment Nanoka is out the door, she high tails down the stairs and to the laundry room that is attached to the family bathroom. She hastily dumps the clothing pile atop the machine and fishes her phone out. It is a text from Tobio.

_Can you meet me at the square? -T_

….huh? Isn't Tobio out shopping with his father? Why does he suddenly want to meet her? _Does he want her to meet his father?!_ Nanoka squeaks and snaps the phone shut. It's too soon! They have only been dating for four weeks! _Wait, don't jump to conclusions!_ Nanoka quickly texts the boy back a 'Why?' and starts separating her whites from her colors as she anxiously waits for his reply. She drops the underwear she is holding the moment her phone lights up.

_My dad couldn't make it._ -_T_

Oh.

Nanoka's excitement dwindles and her heart sinks. Tobio was looking forward to it so much, it was all he could talk about this week. She clutches her phone tightly. If she was with Tobio now, she can probably see his heavy frown and tense muscles. Maybe a tear or two. Tobio has surprisingly leaky eyes. But he's still a kid, despite his shooting height and cumbersome demeanor. Nanoka stares at her dirty clothes, mind whirling. The Town Square is a mile and a half away, she can make it by bike in thirty, no, twenty minutes. It takes laundry forty minutes per cycle, so she definitely can't go and come back in time. Maybe if she made an excuse to go shopping?

Nanoka's eyes land on the laundry detergent.

-.-.-

"Mooom! We're out of laundry detergent!" Nanoka's mother jolts at the loud cry from below. She tsks and power walks to the stairs, glaring down at her daughter. She doesn't notice that Nanoka is avoiding eye contact.

"Don't you have an indoor voice?" The older woman chastises. Nanoka shrugs her shoulder non-committedly. "Grab some money from the drawer. I think OKMart is having a sale so check there first." Nanoka immediately skitters away, and her mother crosses her arms. She swears she bought a refill last month... maybe Nanoka or her husband did some laundry while she wasn't home, so they ran out sooner than she estimated.

Oh Nanoka...she's a sweet little thing but she needs more discipline. _Her_ mother would have slapped her silly if she acted like Nanoka at her age. Maybe she should sign her daughter up for okeiko*** classes, those always look good on omiai profiles. She needs to make sure to make Nanoka loses that baby fat before she's twenty though, it's unsightly. Mumbling to herself, Nanoka's mother goes to the master bedroom to finish folding her own laundry along with her husband's. However, when she gets to sorting the socks and underwear, she notices that one of her husband's socks is missing. Thinking she must have dropped it while bringing the laundry from their yard, she traces her path backwards.

The tartan sock is nestled in the crook of the sliding glass door that opens to their small front yard. Inwardly chiding herself for not paying attention, Nanoka's mother bends over to pick it up when she smells something fragrant. Like . . . peaches. _How odd._ The woman follows this scent to the shrubs that lined their house and notices a puddle of thick, pink . . . goop. She hesitantly nears it and sniffs, crinkling her nose exaggeratingly. Yup, the peach scent is coming from this. Nanoka's mother tries to pinpoint where this liquid came from, when it hits her.

Their laundry detergent is peach scented.

-.-.-

Tobio is numb. The tips of his fingers tingled and he can hear the blood in his veins rush by his eardrums.

"_Sorry Tobio, something came up."_

Tobio fists his cargo pants, where his father's credit card is hidden away in the side pocket.

"_Sorry Tobio, you can buy any phone you want."_

Tobio's old phone has already ran out of battery, hanging loosely in free hand. He is standing next to one of the pillars that supported the roof of the train station, lulled into timelessness by the blur of the constant motion of the people around him.

"_Sorry Tobio-"_

Why was he even surprised? It isn't the first time his father has bailed on Tobio or his mother. His work is always the most important. It makes sense, because his job is what lets them eat dinner under their roof and pays his school tuition.

But it doesn't ease the disappointment that gnawed at his insides, melting his organs and pulling at his skin.

Why isn't Nanoka here yet? ...wait, did he even tell her where he will be? Tobio's ire is now directed at himself instead of his father. _Why am I so stupid? It's the weekend so it's going to crowded, she'll never find me, I should just go home and call her-_

"There you are!" Tobio flinches at the sound of screeching bicycle tires just a meter away from him. He opens his eyes and Nanoka frowns up at him, a coat of sweat on her skin, making her black hair stick to her face and neck. She didn't have time to put her hair up. "You stopped responding to my texts so I knew your battery ran out. This is why I told you to get a new one!" She scolds, fishing for a handkerchief from her bag. She dabs at her neck frantically, using her other hand to fan herself. She balances the bicycle between her legs, keeping it from toppling over.

Speechless, Tobio stares at the girl who arrived with impeccable timing. Despite not knowing where he was, she came anyway. Because he asked. Because he needed her. And she knew exactly where to find him.

Suddenly, Tobio feels like crying again, and Nanoka immediately notices. Her eyes widen comically and her eyes dart between his pinched face and her sweat soaked handkerchief. "Uh," She pulls down the sleeve of her hoodie (the same one she wore to their first volleyball game, he notices belatedly) over her palm and reaches up to wipe his cheek. "Aw Tobio-kun…" Embarrassed, Tobio shies away from her touch, covering his red, blotchy face.

"I-it's fine," Tobio grumbles. "I just got dust in my eye." He doesn't notice Nanoka's eye roll. She parks her bicycle by the side of the building and jogs back to his prone form. Nanoka grabs his bicep, gently at first, as if she is afraid of touching him, but as her resolve solidifies, so does her grip. She starts pulling him towards a WcDonalds.

"Let's go to the bathroom. You need to wash your face." Obediently following her, Tobio lets Nanoka pull him into the fast food restaurant. It is decently crowded despite it being the odd hours between breakfast and lunch, so Nanoka sends him off to the restroom while she waits in line.

Tobio goes straight to the sink, turning the faucet for cold water. He splashes his face, rubbing at his cheeks and eyes in a feeble attempt to wash away the negativity that clouded his features. The ice cold water shocks his nerves, making him more alert. The blur that were the people around him sharpen, and his surroundings become more visible. Tobio looks up into the mirror, taking in his own features. Water dribbles down his smooth pale skin, a slight greyness under his eyes. His cheeks are still plump with fat, his neck bumpless since he has yet to hit puberty.

He looks like a miserable baby.

A flare of irritation bubbles in his chest and Tobio slams his fist into the tiled wall next to the mirror. His sink neighbor jumps, looking at him incredulously before hastily wiping their hands and exiting the bathroom. Tobio glares at his own reflection.

He needs to become stronger so something like this won't bother him.

Tobio rinses his face one more time, massaging the skin between his brows in an attempt to relax the crease that settled due to the constant frowning, but gives up after the wrinkle doesn't budge. He dries his face and hands and rushes out of the bathroom and to the line. Nanoka is the third person in line, and the long queue of people behind her glare at him when he cuts the line. Nanoka keeps her face straight forward, but offers him a side glance. She nudges him with her shoulders.

"Feeling better?"

Tobio grunts. "Yeah." Nanoka shoots a small smile that Tobio can't help but reciprocate, though his smile looks a little odd, with his furrowed brows and wrinkled forehead. Nanoka finds it endearing and she bites her lower lip to hold down a squeal.

"Welcome to WcDonalds, may I take your order?" Nanoka turns her grin to the cashier, who politely smiles back.

"I'll take a happy meal please. Diet soda." Tobio peruses the overhead menu.

"Combo 5." The cashier nods, inputting their order into their computer system.

"Roger that. What toy will you like with your happy meal, customer?" Nanoka blinks. She only chose the happy meal for the small portions. By the end of the cash wrap, a little stand showcases the small plastic toys they have available. _Mokemon or Pony World…_

"Ah, the Mokemon, please." Nanoka chirps. She used to play the original games with the first generation Mokemon, using her brother's secondhand gameboy. She watched the occasional anime episodes, but never really got into it since none of her friends were interested. It doesn't mean she still doesn't find the occasional Mokemon merchandise downright adorable though.

"Your total comes to ￥1270." Tobio immediately shuffles in front of Nanoka and pulls out his wallet, ignoring Nanoka's protests.

"I invited you, so I should pay." Tobio states, leaving no room for argument. Nanoka sighs and lets him take the reigns. Tobio starts to pull out the coins before adopting a panicked expression. The cashier and Nanoka watch him quietly, knowing where this road is heading. "Uh… Nanoka…"

"Yeees?" Nanoka basks in the sight of a red eared Tobio and lets a smirk climb onto her face. At her teasing tenor, Tobio becomes even more embarrassed.

"I...don't have enough." Nanoka pulls out her own wallet and throws a thousand yen bill on top of whatever Tobio has scourged, pushing the change tray towards the cashier. The cashier processes their order and returns the proper amount of change to Nanoka's awaiting hand. The grin remains on the upperclassman's face as she and Tobio shuffle to the side to let the next person in line order their food. Tobio buries his face in his hands, unable to meet his girlfriend's stare.

"I'm sorry, I keep on messing up." His apology is muffled by his sweaty palms. Nanoka shrugs, even though he can't see it.

"It's okay, it happens." Tobio sighs and drops his hands to his sides, where his fingers brush against his pocket.

His pocket.

That has his father's credit card.

_FFFFUUUUUUUU-_

"Tobio-kun?! Tobio-kun, are you okay?" Nanoka jumps when Tobio squats with a silent scream. She grimaces when she notices people looking their way and shakes the boy's shoulder. "Tobio-kun, come on…" The boy groans, ignoring Nanoka's pestering to continue his melodrama.

"I could have paid for it…"

"What?"

Tobio pulls out the shiny plastic card and shoves it into Nanoka's face, who squeaks at the sudden view blockage. "**I could have paid for it!**" Nanoka puts her hand on his wrist to push the card away from her face. _Tobio has a credit card? Wait, Tai... Kageyama_?

"Tobio-kun, is this your father's card?" Nanoka starts incredulously. "Why do you have your father's credit card?" Frowning, the girl gears up for a lecture about stealing. She can't believe Tobio stole his father's credit card! Tobio narrows his eyes, seeing the oncoming reprimand. He bares his teeth at her like a cornered dog, and for a brief second, Nanoka thought he looks like her brother.

"No I didn't! Father gave it to me to buy a cell phone!" He defends himself. His voice carries further than he anticipated and a good portion of the fast food chain customers were staring at them. Nanoka hears the whispers of '_chiwagenka****_' and '_lack of manners_' and feels her ears burn. What if there is someone in the crowd that recognizes her and tells her mom?!

"Order number 233 is reader, customer." The awkward standoff is interrupted by the WcDonald staff, and the weird tension dissipates and Nanoka's shoulder slump in defeat. It was her fault, she shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Nanoka takes their order and drags a sulking Tobio to find seating.

The middle school couple find two open seats by the second floor window, and immediately claim it. Famished, Tobio rips on his bag while salivating to the delicious smell of freshly fried potato sticks and his teriyaki burger. Nanoka cringes at his caveman display and opens her happy meal box with a little more restraint. They quietly dig into their meals, too busy enjoying their food to make conversation. Despite ordering more food, Tobio is already licking his fingers clean when Nanoka has yet to polish her paper bag of french fries. She grunts at him, using her free hand to wipe a smudge of teriyaki sauce from the corner of his lips with a napkin. He pouts but lets her mother hen him.

"Why do you have to eat so fast?" Nanoka complains. "Now it's going to be uncomfortable." Tobio cocks his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"Why?" Nanoka wants to slap herself. She forgot that Tobio is socially inept.

"Now that you're done eating, you'll have to watch me eat since I'm not done yet." As if to prove her point, Nanoka nibbles on her chicken nugget and Tobio immediately trains his beady eyes on the offending piece of processed meat. "Talk about something so I can finish eating without feeling rushed." Nanoka knows she sounds bossy, but_ someone_ has to instill social manners into this boy. Tobio huffs, shifting in his seat to face the window to people watch.

"I came here to shop for a new cell phone, since you said I needed a new one." Nanoka doesn't appreciate the blame he puts on her but lets it slide. They all have different priorities. For Tobio, cell phones just aren't one of them.

"Uh huh."

"I was supposed to come with father, but something came up with his job. So he couldn't make it."

Tobio fingers the small plastic card absentmindedly.

"He was supposed to help me find the perfect one. He knows a lot about phones..." Nanoka sips on her diet soda, staring at the boy besides her. This one sided conversation has become gloomy very fast. Nanoka releases the straw from her lips with a _pop_ and intertwines her hand with his. Tobio flinches at the touch, but eventually squeezes her hand back, looking at her through the shadow of his bangs. Nanoka flushes, feeling abashed at what she will say next. She scratches at the back of her neck before facing Tobio.

"I...I'll help you find the perfect one." Nanoka says. "I won't leave you till we find it." She promises. Tobio looks at her with an indescribable expression, an odd mixture between surprise and bashfulness. Nanoka lets go of his clammy hands (Why are his hands always sweaty? Is he nervous?) to crumple her empty bag of french fries and is about to stuff it in the happy meal box when she notices the unopened toy still inside. She flips the box over to dislodge the little plastic baggy at the bottom, and it lands on her lap. Tobio peers at it owlishly.

"What is that?"

"A toy. It comes with every happy meal." Nanoka explains patiently while wiping down their table with a spare napkin. Tobio opens his mouth in awe. He didn't know WcDonald gave out free toys!

Nanoka rips open the bag and pulls out a little plastic figurine of a Mokemon. She can tell it is a leaf type, but since it's a fourth generation one, she doesn't know the name. Maybe Chiharu will know. She notices Tobio staring at it with...wonder? Nanoka stifles a grin at his boyishness and offers the toy to him. "Here, you can have it," Tobio immediately looks apprehensive, so she adds, "I already have this one." A little white lie never hurt anyone. She made the right choice though, since Tobio's expression eases and he accepts the cheap freebie. She nudges him. "What do you say?" Tobio hisses at her like a cornered cat.

"I'm not five!" Nanoka ignores his retort.

"Well?"

Tobio grumbles. "...Thanks." She nods, satisfied for now. Tobio still has a lot to learn.

-.-.-

"This cell phone is our most popular for students because of it's customizable cover slip, and it's very easy to text with the new, innovative flat buttons that lets finger glide across with ease. You can even load your own ringtones onto this revolutionary, slim, handsome handheld cellular device. It even comes with a cable that allows you to load your photos onto your computer for saving. You can also access internet with this very clever device, but it will cost you quite a pretty penny. We provide a two year to five year contract with different memory sizes, the most basic plan starting at three thousand yen per month. Ah, but this phone on the other hand is also popular for the general audience since it doesn't have all the fancy extras you young ones seem to enjoy. You see-"

"We can shop on our own, thank you very much," Nanoka quips, channeling her mother. She can't stand to listen to one more word from this man's mouth. "We shall inquire if we need any assistance." Recognizing the tone of voice, the sales staff immediately bows and takes a step back.

"Of course ma'am."

Tobio grows a newfound respect for Nanoka. "How did you do that?" He marvels. Nanoka sniffs, her chin still jutted out, giving off an air of superiority.

If her mother taught her anything, it was to act like she was _the shit _even if she absolutely didn't have anything to back her up. Nanoka never really has the confidence to pull such act off, but in instances like this, it was a very necessary performance. That man would have prattled their ears off! Tobio looked like his soul was coming out of his mouth.

"It doesn't matter. He was being annoying. Now lets shop."

After much arguing and deliberating ("No Tobio-kun, you do _not_ need that extra feature." "But Nano-" "No."), Tobio settles with the same, simple phone and plan as Nanoka's: A standard flip phone with a few GB of data, just enough to text and call socially without making his father cringe at any monthly statements he will receive. Nanoka guides Tobio through the signing of the contract and soon enough, they step outside the store with a brand new cellphone in Tobio's quivering hand. Nanoka's ponytail has flyaways and Tobio has a dead look in his eyes. They both come to the conclusion that sales associates that work on commission are tremendously aggravating and need a mute button.

Nanoka takes out her phone and bumps their phones, instantaneously exchanging addresses. Nanoka forms a weak smile.

"Heh, I'm your first contact," Apparently, when this noirette is exhausted, she finds humor in trivial things she would have otherwise ignored. _That salesperson is some kind of monster that just sapped the energy right out of me, I swear…_ Tobio just continues to glare at the world for making him waste a good hour of his life he could have been doing something more productive. "Oh, Tobio-kun, can we drop by the convenience store? I need to buy something before heading back." Tobio sighs and lets Nanoka take his hand and pull him into a generic store that sold basically everything. He waits by the magazine section to read some manga while Nanoka flits across the aisles. Nanoka grabs the cheapest laundry detergent and heads straight to the cashier. It's already nearly dinner time, she has spent a whole day out with Tobio. Her mother will never believe her if she says that she got lost or that every store she went across was sold out in laundry detergent. She'll think up of something on her ride home. Wait, since she and Tobio have been out and about for nearly six hours, does this mean this was their first date? It went by so fast! Since it _is_ a first date, it will be nice to have some kind of memento...

Nanoka notices the wire rack full of little trinkets, ranging from little candies to keychains, meant to entice the impatient child or frivolous customer. An imaginary light bulb pops up over her head.

"Tooobio-kun," Nanoka sings, skipping up to him with a plastic bag jostling in her arm. "Hand me your phone." Tobio eyes her suspiciously but relinquishes his brand new device. Nanoka fiddles with it before presenting it back to him. "Ja jan!"

On the corner of the phone hangs a little keychain of a Mokemon, the same one that Nanoka has received as freebie with her happy meal. Tobio questions in his mind why Nanoka will waste money buying him something he has already gotten from her, when Nanoka jingles her phone in front of him to get his attention.

Her phone has the same keychain. Same Mokemon, but a color variation.

"Cute, right?" Nanoka smirks, waiting for his response. Tobio glares at the made up animal that smiled at him, dangling from his phone like a stretched out wart.

"It's too girly to have keychains on my phone." Nanoka's smile drops. _Oh…_ It seemed like a perfect idea at first, since they already had the same phone, so might as well get matching charms, but perhaps she has gotten ahead of herself, she hasn't thought about how embarrassing this can be for Tobio. He is a boy after all, and boys like different things. Nanoka fidgets with the plastic bag handle, trying not to let the hurt show on her face.

"Sorry," Nanoka shakily smiles. "Well, uh, I don't exactly need two of the same thing, so just keep it I guess? As… a memento for today, yeah?" By the end of her sentence, Nanoka is already walking towards her parked bicycle. Tobio frowns at her, not understanding why Nanoka has gotten upset. He unhooks the strap from his phone and stuffs it in his pocket, where her other Mokemon gift is stored, and walks up to the girl unlocking her bike.

"...are you mad at me?" Tobio inquires hesitantly. He feels as if he's poking a sleeping lion that might attack him any minute. Not that Nanoka is a lion. She's more of a...deer.

Nanoka schools her face, inhales and exhales several times to calm her breathing, and turns to him.

"No, I'm not. See you Monday, Tobio-kun."

Without waiting for his reply, Nanoka hops on her bicycle and flees before she will say something she will regret.

God, she was _so _stupid. What was she doing, thinking she can _train_ Tobio to have manners and to understand social cues like a pet chimpanzee. This _is_ Tobio, and if she can't accept the way he is, she has no right to be his girlfriend. She should have asked Tobio if he wanted matching keychains before buying them like an idiot. That was selfish of her, shoving expectations on him, trying to idealize their relationship. _Remember Nanoka, that dating guru on that love forum said all relationships are different. You're just not used to it yet. You'll soon learn to love everything about Tobio-kun and he will love you back and it will be perfect._

Nanoka ignores the prickling feeling of doubt in the back of her mind and pedals faster.

-.-.-

The next day, Nanoka notices that Tobio's cell phone doesn't have the strap she went through the effort to put on for him.  
As she pulls off her own, now meaningless keychain with fumbling fingers, she tries furiously not to cry.

-.-.-

**Culture Notes:**

_Room wear_: clothing Japanese people wear in the comfort of their home, and only at home. If you google this term, you'll see clothing that is a crossbreed of pajamas and loungewear. UN*QLO is famous for this type of clothing.

_Omiai_: A traditional matchmaking system where a professional matchmaker...well, matches you to your future spouse. Usually people who apply get folders that have the prospective spouse's photo and a resume of some sorts(job, education, income, lineage, etc). Obviously, after Western dating entered the scene, it's popularity has declined, but it is still prevalent in Japanese culture. Going through omiai is a relatively short process compared to dating (few months compared to possibly years of dating) so people who want to get married very soon or are older than the 'marriage eligible' age use this system.

_Okeiko_: The word for 'lessons' for anything traditional, but when used alone, usually signifies tea ceremony, flower arrangement, kimono wearing, etc. Knowing these skills used to considered very valuable for unmarried women since it shows that they have grace, elegance, and manners.

_Chiwagenka_: Slang for a couple fighting/arguing in public, usually on the streets (Chiwa: nearby, genka: a fight).

**A/N:**

I'm sorry for closing this chapter with such a gloomy tone despite the positive outlook it had midway. Teenage dating isn't always fun and games I suppose. I'll make it up to you with a good chunk of next chapter in Oikawa's perspective, yeah?

I want to **EMPHASIZE** that every character in this story is flawed. Absolutely full of faults and problems. So don't take these children's words to heart or connect it to my ideals because if I ever meet middle school Nanoka or Tobio, I will sit them down and give them a thorough lecture on gender roles, sexuality, and knowing when to shut the hell up. I might give them a good shake along the way. Nanoka is a troubled character with misogynistic parents, so her attitudes will reflect on her upbringing. Tobio (or at least, _my _Tobio) is a distant character and never really had a solid social relationship other than with his mother, so this whole 'teammates and girlfriend that have feelings' is a completely foreign experience for him. This is a story about their growth as human beings.

Okay, I really needed to let that out. Sorry.

Anyway, on a more positive note: Yes! It's been finally revealed who Nanoka's older brother is! Arakita Yasutomo is a character from Yowamushi Pedal, a shounen manga that revolves around the sport of bicycle racing. A previous reviewer pointed out that she thought it was Yasutomo, but wasn't sure because his school, Hakone, is in, well, Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture. But it actually isn't that far from Miyagi-by shinkansen, it's only three hours away. So it's plausible that he attends a boarding school in Tokyo for middle school before attending Hakone Academy, refusing to even attend a school where he will commute from home. It's also canon that Yasutomo wears a pompadour and is a douchebag until Fuku-chan converts him to bicylism.

Poll update: Tobio and Oikawa are tied, 20 votes each! Kuroo is behind by 6 reasons for the sole reason that everyone loves that dork, and Iwaizumi is in fourth place with 12 votes.

Also a special bonus for reviewers: One reviewer will get a 300-500 word drabble featuring Nanoka and anyone they wish. You can even offer a prompt or a scenario. All you have to do is drop a review for this chapter, and I will use a random number generator to pick one. If you are a guest and still want to participate, put your email in the review (if fanfiction doesn't allow that, uh, your tumblr?).

Shout out to _Held Together with Tape_ for making me laugh by calling Oikawa salty, of all words.

Sorry for the long author's note. Have a good summer everyone!

-donut


	6. Destiny

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Haikyuu or yowapeda.

_A note on the small yowapeda crossover_: Reviewer Mei Lee pointed out to me that the Arakita Yasutomo in yowapeda has two younger sisters _and _a dog. I wasn't aware of this because I failed to do any research. I apologize! I decided that I won't edit the previous and future chapters to incorporate an additional sibling. So she just doesn't exist in this AU. Sorry! Also the fact that Yasutomo is from Yokohama will be disregarded, or will be briefly mentioned that the Arakita family made a move from Yokohama to Miyagi when the children were little. The dog? Well, the dog will appear sometime later. Papillons seem like a perfect breed for Nanoka's mother anyway.

Onwards to the story.

-.-.-

Tobio's above average grade on that one test must have been a fluke, Kunimi decides. Because how else is he failing every class other than P.E.? The droopy eyed boy had genuinely considered Tobio as an academic rival but disregarded it when Tobio received a 33 on the following test. Unfortunately for Tobio and the rest of their class, their geometry class simply got progressively harder. If he remembers correctly, Tobio has gotten a whopping 17 on their most recent pop quiz. It has caused their teacher to pull Tobio out during lunch, most likely to have a discussion on his studying methods and abominable grades.

Even Kindaichi struggles with the current curriculum, grappling to find the connection between shapes and angles. Tobio simply doesn't understand why he has to prove that a triangle is a triangle. Kunimi thought Tobio would have begged to his older girlfriend for extra help, but for some reason he hasn't. It might be a pride issue. Kindaichi worries for his top ten rank of his year, he can't let himself slip. But the Junior High School Miyagi Prefecture Volleyball Tournament is coming up, and along with his midterms, and Kunimi is so very overwhelmed. The school administrators have done poor planning on their part.

"Do you get how to solve this problem?" Kindaichi asks, nudging Kunimi with the eraser tip of his pencil. Kunimi peers over his arm to look at his classmate's worksheet. The paper is scribbled with letters and geometric shapes. His eyes glaze over Kindaichi's neat handwriting and purses his lips when he notices where Kindaichi started going in circles. He hesitates, but Kunimi shakes his head. Kindaichi groans loudly enough to earn a shush from a neighbor. The library is packed with students cramming for their upcoming exams. Everyone is on edge.

After passing a few notes, the two students decide to ask their math teacher for help. If he's the one that created the worksheets, he is bound to know the solutions.

"Yanda-sensei? He's out with a meeting. Probably won't be back until next period. Will you like me to pass a message?" Kunimi and Kindaichi thank the kind teacher who has let them into the teacher's lounge, but declines her offer. The duo have class next period, so by then it'll be too late. Kindaichi drops his heads in disappointment.

"This sucks. I'm totally going to bomb this exam." Kunimi makes a noise that can be interpreted as either agreement or disagreement. They turn to exit the room to plot their next action when Kunimi notices a pair of students across the desks and teachers.

"It's Kageyama and senpai." Nanoka and Tobio are standing in front of a teacher, an armful of supplies in their hands, most likely running errands.

"What-oh hey, it is." Kindaichi waves at them, but the couple are facing the adult so they do not see Kindaichi. "Do you think Arakita-senpai will be able to help? She _did_ tutor Kageyama for that other test, and I think she's still helping him with his homework."

Kunimi shrugs. He doesn't really think she will agree, after all, they aren't really close and from what he heard about the library fiasco, Tobio basically coerced Nanoka into tutoring him. Now that Nanoka has Tobio backing her, he's pretty sure the same tactic won't work twice.

_But it will never hurt to ask._ Kunimi thinks.

"Senpai! Kageyama!"

Out in the hallway, Kunimi and Kindaichi quickly approach Nanoka and Tobio the moment they exited from the teacher's lounge. Nanoka smiles politely and wiggles her fingers in a quiet hello while Kageyama looks at them bewildered. His volleyball teammates never really approached him outside of the classroom setting unless it was club related, but it doesn't seem like the case here. His skin prickles a little in apprehension.

"What?" Tobio asks, leaning back a little. Kindaichi fumbles for words.

"Uh, are you, ya know, ready for Yanda's exam?" Kindaichi tries to act casual, but he ends up sounding more rigid and unnatural. Kunimi rolls his eyes at his friend's smoothness. Tobio's face sours at the mention of 'exam' and Nanoka groans, hiding her face in the class notebook she is holding. Even after passing his class, Yanda continues to haunt her into her second year.

"I still don't get most of it but Nanoka's helping me." Tobio grunts out. Nanoka sighs and Kunimi can practically hear her thinking 'unfortunately'. Perhaps she and him have more in common than he thought.

Kindaichi claps his hands together in a begging pose, bowing his head. "Do you mind if Arakita-senpai tutors us too? We would really appreciate the help!" Tobio blinks.

"She tutors me during lunch though. Don't you guys talk about Shounen Leap and stuff while you eat?" Kindaichi raises his pressed hands higher as if he was praying to a higher god, who in this case might as well be Nanoka. He cries out.

"This is more of a priority than the future of the cursed ninja village!" Tobio looks baffled while Nanoka raises an eyebrow at the spectacle. She crosses her arms.

"I don't know why you're asking Tobio for permission when in the end, I'm the one doing the tutoring," She glares. Tobio turns to her, his expression even more confused.

"But aren't boyfriends supposed to protect their girlfriends?"

Nanoka splutters. "What? What does this have to do with tutoring?" Tobio puffs out his chest.

"They're trying to take advantage of your time-"

"Ha! Like you have a right to-"

"I'm your boyfriend so _I'm_ allowed to-" Kindaichi quickly butts in between the couple who are now facing each other confrontationally. This time, he properly addresses Nanoka with the question.

"Arakita-senpai, do you think you have time to tutor us too? If not, it's understandable…" Kindaichi ends the sentence weakly. This has been a very stupid idea, he thinks. Tobio crosses his arms, copying Nanoka's stance.

"She's already tutoring me, what more is two more people." Nanoka narrows her eyes at him.

"I thought you were supposed to 'protect' me from being taken advantage of?" Tobio freezes, suddenly insecure. He cowers slightly under her heavy frown. Maybe he took this 'manning up' a bit too far? Tobio quickly tries to make amends.

"U-unless you don't want to?" He squeaks out in an embarrassingly high pitch. A blush emerges at his neck and grows to his cheekbones.

Great, he acted stupid in front of Nanoka _and_ his classmates.

Nanoka continues to glare at him until Tobio takes a feeble step away from her, afraid she'll pinch him. She cranes her neck to focus the glares on the other two boys, who immediately raise their arms and flinch. Feeling back in command, Nanoka huffs, dropping her arms.

"Why not. Maybe you guys can help each other and make less work for me." The boys blink before the words finally sink in. Kindaichi dramatically sinks to the floor, clinging onto Kunimi's shirt. He buries his face into Kunimi's trousers, sobbing.

"We finally got help, Kunimi," Said boy tries to pull his teammate off of him, but to no avail. "We might survive midterms!" Nanoka grimaces at the sudden pressure placed on her shoulders. She has her own exams to study for, can she really do this?

"No promises, boys. No promises."

-.-.-

The middle schoolers relocate to the school library and manage to hog a table by the window. They go over the last three weeks of curriculum, reviewing anything that the first years did not recognize or had trouble with previously.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi comes across them when Nanoka is explaining the connection between angles and shapes. Tobio, who is sitting next to her, is practically leaning on her shoulder with the way he is hunching over the paper she is writing on. Kunimi and Kindaichi are also comically leaning forward across the table to see her notes, their upper bodies supported by the elbows on the table. Nanoka either doesn't seem to mind or just hasn't noticed the crowding.

"Such committed pupils you have there, Kagepapa, mind if I join?" Oikawa chirps, pulling up a seat adjacent to Nanoka and Kindaichi. Iwaizumi opts to stand by his childhood friend, peering curiously at the papers that litters the desk. Nanoka huffs a strand of hair out of her face.

Dryly, she replies, "If you need to review your first year math, feel free," Her face is a strained grimace, as if she is trying to restrain from showing her annoyance at the upperclassman's obnoxious distraction. "Also stop calling me that. That joke has past it's expiration date a long time ago."

Oikawa quickly brings his hands to his chest and pouts. "But I give all my friends nicknames!" Nanoka's shoulder twitches, but quickly relaxes with conscious effort. She sighs, finally putting down her pen to give the dramatic teen her attention.

"I thought I was your eternal enemy for sleeping with your wife." Iwaizumi groans when Nanoka looks at him for support. He raises his hands.

"Don't drag me into this." He grunts. Oikawa waves his hands dismissively.

"Pah, that's all in the past now. Lets say we band together to make Iwa-chan's life hell for cheating, yeah?" Oikawa bounces in his seat, obviously excited by his brand new scheme.

Iwaizumi drops his face in his hands, sighing deeply. Nanoka stares at him in an attempt to telepathically tell him he has her condolences. Her attention snaps back to Oikawa when the words he was spouting while she was distracting catches up to her. She pulls her lips back and bares her teeth in disgust.

"Did you just call me Nana-chan?" Oikawa purs, eyes and mouth curved in a mischievous expression that Nanoka is quickly learning to dislike.

"Why, it's perfect isn't it? Your name mean's seventh day, so your nickname is seven!" Nanoka groans. She uses the number 7 as a signature for her texts, but Oikawa shouldn't know that, so he probably thought of this on his own. Tobio looks at Oikawa contemplatively.

"I didn't know you were that close to Nanoka, Oikawa-senpai."

"We're not." "We are." Nanoka denies and Oikawa agrees at the same time. Nanoka immediately hisses at him, one trigger away from telling him to fuck off. Oikawa squeaks and leans away from her, but the smile on his face says that he isn't actually intimidated by her.

"Iwa-chan, Nana-chan is baring her teeth at me!" Iwaizumi cuffs Oikawa in the head.

"You deserve it. Leave them alone and let your underclassmen study, unless you want three less club members." Kunimi deadpans.

"I will appreciate it if you had more faith in our academics, Iwaizumi-senpai."

"Sorry," Iwaizumi grabs a fistful of Oikawa's shirt, cocking his head towards the door. "We're getting out of your hair now. Study hard." Oikawa squawks, trying to wiggle his way out of Iwaizumi's solid grip.

"Wait I'm not-" Iwaizumi easily silence him by tightening his grip on the collar of the brunet's shirt. Nanoka winces, but Kindaichi and Kunimi easily wave their upperclassmen away. Once out of view, Iwaizumi abruptly drops Oikawa, letting the boy stumble to regain his footing. Oikawa rubs at his neck and makes gurgling noises as if to get the feeling back into his neck.

"Was that necessary?" Iwaizumi continues to troop on, leaving Oikawa to skitter after him.

"Was _that_ necessary?" Iwaizumi throws back. Oikawa snorts, straightening his collar and patting down at the wrinkles on his shirt that formed.

"I was just teasing my cute little kouhais, that's all. You're no fun, Iwa-chan." Iwaizumi makes a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat, knowing Oikawa usually doesn't goes out of his way bother his underclassmen, but for some reason, this time he did. So he knows something is up. Iwaizumi huffs, allowing Oikawa to loop his arm through his. Oikawa playfully nuzzles the boy's shoulder, giggling and retreating the moment Iwaizumi swats at him. He unhooks his arm and crosses them behind his head casually.

"I'm surprised Nana-chan's tutoring Tobio-chan's friends too. I wonder if she's a brainiac?"

"She was probably forced into it." Iwaizumi replies. He distractedly fixes his unevenly rolled sleeves. "She should be focusing on her own midterms." Oikawa smiles fondly at Iwaizumi's obvious protectiveness. Iwaizumi has a tendency to take weaklings under his wing, and Nanoka has already wormed her way into his good books. He doesn't seem to notice his emerging paternal instincts yet though. What a teddy bear.

Oikawa hums. On the other hand, Nanoka is a... ah, prickly cactus. Everyone just likes her because the little flower on her head makes her look harmless and adorable. Sure, he picks on her a lot, but she doesn't need to rebuff him as harshly as she does. If she can't handle his egging, Oikawa has no idea how she deals with Tobio.

Speaking of that ungrateful volleyball genius-that boy is the bane of his existence. "Teach me this", "teach me that", but once Tobio gets what he wants, he refuses to listen to his mentors. He's disrespectful and manner-less. His ugly words don't match Tobio's unfortunately cute face. _If only Tobio was cute on the inside too_. Oikawa muses.

Maybe Nanoka secretly likes being nagged… or maybe she's used to being nagged. Oikawa tries to muffle the smirk that curves his lips. Nanoka is a common case of white sheep, riding on the coattails of other's successes, drifting along life. Does Nanoka even know how much of a doormat she is? If she does, does she resent it? Nanoka does tend to grimace or make an annoyed face when her opinion is blatantly disregarded. But it's almost as if it's a subconscious reaction, like she does it instinctively without realizing the feeling she's experiencing. But sometimes… sometimes it goes over her head, and Nanoka continues along like she was never snubbed. Maybe she is getting immune to it? Or she is learning that it's easier to ignore it…

Nanoka's the type who can only follow orders and never say no. She'll probably end up going to an average college and become an average office lady and marry an equally average man. Tobio will tire of such a boring girl in months time. He's surprised the relationship even lasted a week because of her lack of knowledge or much enthusiasm for volleyball.

Chiharu doesn't mind turning a blind eye to Nanoka's blandness as long as she has an ear to listen to her everyday superficial woes. Chiharu has done a spectacular job isolating Nanoka to the point that Chiharu is the only person Nanoka knows in the classbody that she can consider close. Oikawa has watched Chiharu manipulate teachers and children alike to get what she wants, so Chiharu grooming Nanoka to become the perfect best friend is not impossible.

That dynamic has been jostled greatly by the mere presence of Tobio. Chiharu has obviously repealed her support for Nanoka having a boyfriend after realizing that Tobio is one of those needy boyfriends that require constant reassurance, _like her_. He has gotten bolder as he got more comfortable, and Chiharu told Oikawa that she's not sure which is worse. Chiharu grouched that Tobio's entitled attitude towards Nanoka's attention and affection pissed her off because he doesn't return the favor. He expects her to drop her club responsibilities to support him during his own club activities, cancels dates due to his own whims, disregarding her feelings or opinion. Tobio even got Nanoka in trouble when she had to sneak out of the house to meet him for a date because he was ditched by his father and had nothing else to do but bother his girlfriend.

It explained why Nanoka couldn't even stick around during the beginning of club two weeks ago and had to go straight home for a few days until her leash loosened again.

Nanoka must have strict parents if a few hours of unexplained absence on a weekend gets her grounded. If Oikawa did that, his parents will simply assume he went to socialize or practice volleyball at the park. This also most likely means that Tobio's existence a secret in the Arakita household.

If Oikawa is dating Tobio, he won't want his parents to meet him either. Oikawa snorts at the incredulous thought. _Ha, never happening. I'd give up volleyball over dating Tobio anyday. _

Tobio is obviously not in love with Nanoka or anything like that. It's more like he's infatuated with the _idea _of love. He wants that unconditional affection and forgiveness without bothering to learn how to reciprocate it, leaving poor Nanoka high and dry. Maybe he'll learn eventually how to properly show affection, but with the way Nanoka is indulging him, probably not soon.

What kind of boyfriend will Nanoka be able to bring home without her strict parents locking her up in a tall tower and feeding the key to a dragon? Oikawa thinks hard, but can't really think of a boyfriend that won't lead to Nanoka chained to the floor in their basement. Maybe Nanoka should give up dating until she moves out, for her own good, Oikawa decides.

"Oikawa, our stop is next." Iwaizumi shakes Oikawa's shoulder gently, shaking him out of his musings. Oikawa looks up at his ruggedly handsome best friend and a lightbulb pops up above his head.

"What do you think about Nana-chan, Iwa-chan?" Iwaizumi scrunches up in face in confusion.

"Nana-oh, Arakita," Iwaizumi inhales and scratches at his chin. "She's... okay?" Iwaizumi gives Oikawa the stink eye. "Whatever it is you're planning, I don't like it, so stop."

The train doors open and Oikawa exits first with a flourish, spinning around to face Iwaizumi with a cheshire grin.

"Do you think she's cuuuuute?" Iwaizumi blushes when the business woman exiting the train besides them gives him an inquisitive glance before smiling at him, as if she thought of her own good ol' days of middle school crushes. He growls at Oikawa, whose smile has become larger at the sight of redness in his cheeks.

"Can you _not_?" Iwaizumi swings at Oikawa, but Oikawa deftly avoids the punch and prances down the stairs. "Ugh. Ughhhhh!" Iwaizumi tucks his messenger bag securely under his armpit and sprints after Oikawa. Said brunet glances back and shrieks at the mirage of a devil chasing after him.

The childhood friends continue in this manner to Oikawa's house, which is the closest to the train station, therefore their first stop. They argued with the front door in between them for Oikawa's protection until Iwaizumi figured out to enter through their patio door and chases him to his room and wrestles Oikawa to the floor before the slippery boy can escape.

"Why are you getting so worked up over such a simple question anyway?" Oikawa wails in his scorpion hold under Iwaizumi. The boy sitting atop him yanks on his legs, eliciting a surprised yelp.

"You caught me off guard." Iwaizumi drops his hold on Oikawa's ankles and rolls off the panting volleyball captain. "What do _you_ think about Arakita?"

Oikawa props himself up with his elbows. "She's boring. I don't know what Tobio sees in her." There is a pause as Iwaizumi gathers his thoughts.

"...I don't think she's a good match with Kageyama." He finally admits. He crosses his arms on the floor and buries his chin. "They're not really dating-it's almost as if she's babysitting him."

"Oh?"

"Remember how two days ago she dropped by at the end of club to walk him home?" Iwaizumi roll to his side, facing the bed. His face is pensive, but Oikawa can only see the back of his head. "Kageyama told her that her bento wasn't big enough, and it didn't have enough meat." He clenches his fist. "This girl is sacrificing sleep to make a meal for you and all you can do is complain? I just… don't understand." Oikawa furrows his eyebrows at the serious turn this conversation has taken. He grasps Iwaizumi's sleeve to roll him back onto his back so he can talk face to face.

"Tobio-chan is still a snot-nosed brat, unlike us. And Nana-chan's too anxious to tell him he's hurting her feelings." Oikawa wrinkles his nose, contemplating. "You know, Nana-chan used to be a lot sharper with her words before they started dating. I hear from Kindaichi that she even smashed his face into a curry bun for calling her ugly." Iwaizumi chokes.

"She did that?"

"Yeah. And yesterday I overheard Tobio-chan saying her upper arms are jiggly, but she didn't say anything back! She just kind of...tolerated it. Huh." Oikawa looks at Iwaizumi. "What do you think?" Iwaizumi groans, covering his eyes with his arm.

"I don't know! Girls are confusing. Can we talk about something else?" Oikawa smiles and pulls over his bag. He digs through until he pulls out a blank DVD case.

"Guess what I got?" Iwaizumi glares at him.

"It better not be that porn that's been circulating through our class."

"I got that a week ago already! No, it's footage of Datekougyou versus...dun dun dun! Shiratorizawa!" Iwaizumi immediately perks up.

"We've been looking for that forever!" Oikawa hides his face behind the DVD like a fan, batting his eyelashes coyly. He purrs.

"I have my ways, Iwa-chan." Iwaizumi rolls his eyes.

"Gross. I'll set up the DVD player so go make some tea, you horrible host."

"Aye aye."

-.-.-

"Where were you?" Nanoka jerks to a stop, nearly dropping her sneakers. She grimaces, but tries to school her face into a more innocently curious smile. She gently places her shoes down and reaches for her slippers. She looks up at her mother.

"I was at school, mom. I was studying." At her distructful stare, Nanoka adds, "Midterms are close." Her mother sighs, raising her hands to take Nanoka's cardigan.

"Nanoka, I have a hard time trusting you ever since you lied to me about 'getting laundry detergent'." Nanoka' mother starts. Nanoka cringes. Here we go again.

"Mom, I'm not lying. I promise." Well, she was helping someone _else_ study, but she was studying all the same. Her mother doesn't relent.

"You say that but-" Nanoka groans.

"Mom-" Nanoka's mother's eyes sharpen like a hawk's.

"Don't you talk back to me." Nanoka immediately shrinks into herself, the will to fight shriveling up and dying, the fire in her heart smothering. That tone of voice always makes her want to defer. Nanoka squeaks into submission.

"Okay."

Satisfied that her dominance has once again been established, her mother crosses her arms and heads to the kitchen. Midway, she glances back, and Nanoka scrambles after her, nearly slipping on the hardwood with her socks.

Her mother starts the kettle and measures out the tea leaves, and Nanoka sinks into her chair at the dining table. Their home is modestly built, so the kitchen, dining, and living room is joint. The table is adjacently attached to the kitchen counter, and there is an open window over the counter letting the person in the kitchen watch over the whole living room. A home built especially for a family.

"Yasutomo just called. He's coming home for summer break." Nanoka makes a barfing noise and her mother gives her a stern glare. "Stop that! You need to respect your brother, Yasutomo is going to become a great baseball player and bring respect back to our family." Nanoka resists the urge to drop her head onto the table. _Here comes the Yasutomo-is-amazing-spiel. _"Did you know he was scouted by the Giants manager? He even gave his coach his business card! Yasutomo is going to make it big, Nanoka." Nanoka watches as her mother clasps her hands, obviously in a trance, imaging her future full of fame and jewelry and people looking up to her. "He's going to go places." Nanoka closes her eyes, ending the sentence for both of them.

_Unlike us._

-.-.-

Iwaizumi ended up sleeping over, and as usual they spent the whole night talking about the match they watched. Oikawa yawns, rubbing at his dark circles. Sleep overs during school days are a bad, bad idea. He is already nodding off by second period. _I need a nap. What's next period?_ Oikawa hazily sorts through his memory and remembers that History is next. He's ahead on the reading anyway, so it shouldn't impact him too much to skip this class. So Oikawa pushes through to the end of class without dropping his head onto the desk, and quietly sneaks away during the five minute break between classes, texting Iwaizumi where he will be.

Oikawa considers sleeping at the nurse's office, but according to Yasui, she's been really strict recently on students skipping classes at her office. For this nap, Oikawa will have to pass over an actual bed for a bed of grass behind the school building.

Oikawa walks down to the ground floor and turns to the back corridor. When he's sure nobody's looking, he opens the window and jumps over the ledge. He miscalculates the distance to the ground though, and ends up doing a barrel roll into a bush.

"Unnghhhh."

"Whoa, is that Oikawa-kun?" Oikawa freezes, not having noticed that there is a person outside. He squints his eyes to adjust to the change in lighting before blinking in surprise.

"...Chiharu-chan?" Chiharu makes a little wave with the hand that isn't holding her cigarette.

"Yahoo." Oikawa feels relieved to see Chiharu smoking, because it means that she's most likely not going to tattle on him (not that she will, she'll do anything he asks), if she's performing delinquent activity also. Underage smoking on campus sounds a lot worse than sneaking off for a nap, in his opinion.

Chiharu is leaning against the side of the building between the bushes, so it is reasonable that Oikawa did not see her during his escape. She has her legs stretched out before her, a portable ashtray on her lap. Chiharu pats the open space next to her.

"If you stay there, someone's going to pass by and see you, you know." Oikawa scrambles to press himself against the cement wall. Chiharu gives him an amused side glance, taking a drag from the half spent cigarette. Oikawa scratches at his cheek.

"I didn't know you smoke." Chiharu smiles. Not the sugary kinds she always tossed around, but a quiet one, filled with dark amusement.

Everyone knows smoking is bad, but for impressionable teenagers like them, smoking is the ultimate sign of badassery. If you smoke, you're a rebel, a delinquent who deserved the respect of their peers. It's only until they're knees deep in a nicotine addiction that they realize the whole thing is a scam created by the cigarette companies to get you hooked. Chiharu smoking in secrecy seems more like a silent tribute to the girl she couldn't be.

Chiharu's father is a politician, her mother what one might call a trophy wife(which might explain Chiharu's obsession with material goods). Though they don't bother her often, the press sometimes sneakily take photos of her when she's out in the city, or doing something as simple as grocery shopping. It meant Chiharu had to be the goody two shoes daughter unless she wants her father's reputation to be impacted. Everyone thinks Chiharu is living the good life-nice big mansion, a TV in her room, a basically unlimited credit card, and a social life teenagers will die for. So seeing Chiharu smoking was surprising, but at the same time, not.

"You weren't supposed to know." Chiharu continues to stare out into space before glancing at him again, obviously feelings the prickle of his stare. "Do you want to try?" She offers. Oikawa hesitantly accepts the cigarette and shakily brings it to his mouth with inexperienced fingers. He inhales… and proceeds to hack his lungs out. Chiharu bursts out into girlish giggles and swipes the cigarette out of his hand before he drops it. "It's always like that in the beginning." She offers in consolation.

"Why do you even do this? This tastes gross! And the smell sticks to your clothes!" Oikawa whines. Chiharu pulls out a travel-size air freshener from her makeup purse. "Oh."

"It grows on you, I guess." Chiharu brings the cigarette back to her lips and takes one last drag before the ash recedes to her fingertips. She winks at Oikawa. "We just shared an indirect kiss. I can't wait to tell all my friends!" Chiharu presses the spent cigarette against her ashtray. "Of course, what we shared will be a waterbottle and not a cigarette." Chiharu takes a pause before pinning Oikawa with an innocent pout. "Don't tell Nanocchi I smoke, she'll scold me to death." Oikawa waves his hands, grinning uneasily.

"Of course!" Huh. Maybe he'll have to reconsider his stance on Chiharu and Nanoka's relationship. Chiharu stands up and stretches, shoving her ashtray into the bottom of her tiny purse. "Are you going back to class?"

"Yeah, can't be doing makeup in the bathroom for longer than thirty minutes." Oikawa can't help but laugh at that.

"Right."

"You?"

"A nap." Chiharu cringes guiltily.

"Oh. Sorry for stinking up the place then." Oikawa shrugs goodnaturedly.

"It's not like I own the place." Chiharu chortles.

"Truuueee. Bye bye Oikawa-kun, see you at practice!" She sings, her public attitude bubbling back up. It looks like bonding time is over, her mask is back on. Oikawa offers her a curved smile to which she swoons at.

"Have fun in class. Say hi to Nana-chan for me."

In his sleepy haze, the comforting grey area between consciousness and sleep, Oikawa realizes that Chiharu's infatuation with him is probably a facade in itself, to blend in with the other girls, and he wonders if he is simply an interest for them, a hobby, for people to bond over, and that no one actually respects or likes him at all.

"_Oikawa-san, please teach me how to serve."_

-.-.-

**A/N: **Thanks for reading chapter 6! I don't really have much to say other than that some parts of this chapter were fun to write, while others made me close my laptop and binge watch The Walking Dead before I could attempt to write again.

This was a mostly character development chapter, but I got to flesh out Oikawa and Chiharu, which I'm happy that I got done.

**Poll Update: **Oikawa is first, Kageyama is second, and Kuroo (why? WHY?) is third. Once the poll hits 75 unique voters, I'll close it and start another one, this time narrowed down with more relevant characters to this story.

**Drabble Raffle Update:** The winner for chapter 5's drabble raffle isssssss… **Tamani**! I used an online random number generator and her slot was chosen! So Tamani, you can request a Nanoka one shot, any genre. Just no sexy scenes since everyone in this story is very underage. You can review or PM me.

I'll put up another Drabble Raffle on chapter 10, or possibly sooner if I think I can handle the extra work. Each Drabble Raffle will be put on the bottom of the next chapter (so chapter 7 will have the bonus story/scene).

I hope you are all enjoying your summer,

donut


	7. Calligraphy Club

"Is Arakita-san here? She wasn't in her homeroom, and Morino-sensei is looking for her. Said it's related to her club."

The freshman gapes.

She was called to the door by a second year, so she thought he was there on a teacher's errand to pass out handouts, but it turns out not the case and she is a little baffled at what to do. She hesitates before nodding, letting go of of her tight grip on the door frame.

"Um, okay, I'll see if she's here." The boy inclines his head.

"Thank you."  
The girl skitters away from the upperclassman and quickly joins her gaggle of friends.  
"What was that about?" The blond friend asks.  
"He's looking for an Arakita-san. Do we have an Arakita in our class?" The leanest of the group shakes her head.  
"Nuh uh," The blond chews his fish paste before a lightbulb goes off.  
"Oh, that senpai that comes to visit Kageyama-kun a lot, maybe it's her. Is she around?" The trio look at the general area of Tobio's assigned seat, and sees no sign of him or the girl. "Nope." Nodding, the brunette jogs back to the older boy by the entrance.  
"Arakita-senpai isn't here." She quips. The brunet groans, ruffling his hair.  
"Why is she so hard to find?!"  
"I heard she tutors in the library during lunch." The tall girl pipes up from the nearby table.  
"Doesn't she tutor Kageyama-kun?" The boy next to her asks, mouth full.  
"I saw her with other boys too."  
"Maybe a part time job?" The whole group shrugs in unison.

"Maybe." The second year by the door scratches at his neck.

"Her classmate said she'll be here, man, this is a drag. Lunch break is going to be over soon." The boy drags his body out of the classroom and sulks towards the library. The tall girl sitting at the table waves at the retreating figure.

"Good luck, senpai!" The figure waves his limp hand in a half hearted salute. She snickers. "Poor guy."

-.-.-

"Are you Arakita-san?"

Nanoka looks up from the formula she was breaking down, trying to teach the boys the mechanics that can possibly help them understand where and how to apply the formula better. Kindaichi and Tobio, who are sitting next to Nanoka side by side, immediately stand straighter, sizing up the stranger. From across, Kunimi rolls his eyes. Puzzled, Nanoka cocks her head to the side.

"Yes?" She answers uncertainly. The teenager jabs his thumb behind him, pointing at the library entrance.

"Morino-sensei is asking for you."

Morino-sensei.

Morino-sensei is her advisor.

Morino-sensei is her _club_ advisor.

Nanoka's breath hitches and she struggles to keep her composure. She looks down, pretending to be distracted by the blurry paper before her. She starts to get tunnel vision, and the world around her starts to constrict and strain and swirl around. Oh god, she's going to throw up.

"I-I'll be right there." Nanoka breaths. The messenger nods and walks away with the intent to wait by the library entrance. Noticing the sudden tenseness in Nanoka, Tobio ducks his head to peer under her hair that formed a curtain around her face as she looked at her lap. There is cold sweat running down her forehead.

"You okay?" Tobio asks hesitantly. Nanoka jolts before looking at him. She tries to meet his gaze but her eyes shake and end up settling near his neck. She can feel the uncomfortableness and apprehension the boys were experiencing-they are obviously not equipped to handle emotional situations and do not know what to do. She's only burdening them by staying around longer. She doesn't want to put them on the spot like this. Nanoka swallows her nausea and forces her head up to meet Kunimi's slightly anxious gaze.

"...yeah. I have to go. Finish the worksheet by the time I get back, alright?" Nanoka offers a weak smile, before gathering her things and rushing to the door. The boy and Nanoka exchange hushed words before disappearing down the hall. Kindaichi puts down his pencil and wrings his hands nervously.

"That didn't seem like good news." He whispers. Kunimi snorts.

"No kidding."

-.-.-

"I'm sorry for making you waste your lunch break looking for me." Nanoka apologizes, fiddling with the straps of her school assigned briefcase. The teen speed walking beside her shrugs. Now that he finally found her, his anger dissipated and all he wants to do now is go back to homeroom and finish his bento.

"It's fine," He looks at her through the corner of his eye. _She looks tired_, he thinks. "I'm Fukuyama, I sit three rows away from you." Nanoka nods beforeletting out a huff, having trouble keeping up with his speed. Noticing her breathlessness, Fukuyama slows down slightly. _Weak too_.

They soon arrive at the teacher's lounge, where they exchange brief pleasantries before parting ways. Nanoka takes a shaky breath before gripping the door handle.

She can still turn back-no, don't. She can't run away from this.

The door rattles as she slides it open and shut behind her. Heads pop over the desks to see who has arrived, returning back to their tasks once they realize it is not related to them. A lanky spectacled man keeps his head afloat and waves his hand.

"Arakita-kun, over here," Nanoka dodges students and teachers alike to get to him. "Have a seat."

Morino has a deep set of laugh lines along with the beginning of crows feet. His skin is pale from his time spent cooped up in his home and the library. He coughs into his hands and swivels his chair to face Nanoka.

"I got a word that Fukuchi-kun resigned," He starts. Nanoka can feel the accusations lining up to fly out of his mouth and pelt her like bullets. "That was more than a month ago, Arakita-san. Why didn't you say anything?" Nanoka clenches her skirt in her fists. It isn't like she purposefully left him in the dark. She was just...just trying to buy time. To save her club. Noticing Nanoka's silence, Morino sighs deeply, shaking his head in a condescending way.

"I would have given you more time to look for a member if you reported to me the week of. But now it's too late." He says. Nanoka jerks her head up, tears already brimming on her lower eyelash. Only sheer willpower is keeping them from falling. _Th-that's not fair!_ Morino shuffles through his papers, opening a few drawers before finding the appropriate papers. He smooths them out on his desk and pushes them towards the ashen paced girl.

"Sign this paper, Arakita-kun. The calligraphy club is officially disbanded." Nanoka's lower lip trembles, already red from being gnawed on during his reprimand. Why did he even mention offering her a chance if he had no intention of giving it to her? She tries to come up with an argument, but nothing coherent is crossing her mind. Just the heavy churnings of frustration and desperation.

"But-but-" Morino groans, already distracted by the papers that need to be graded before him.

"Arakita-kun, just sign the paper. You can try again next year." The older man coaxes the girl to grip the pen he puts in her hand and guides her to stand in front of his desk to sign the Club Disbandment form. Nanoka's handwriting is mutilated by the shaky lines, but Morino accepted it nonetheless. Before she knew it, Nanoka is ushered out of the teacher's lounge by the ever so busy Morino and she is left dazed in front of the door.

Her two years of effort, gone, just like that.

Nanoka feels like she just signed away her soul to the devil. Where else will she able to find a room just for calligraphy? Her room is too small to store all of the club supplies. Will she have to throw them away? The calligraphy club room was her safe space, her little bit of peace wedged in her stressful schedule. Calligraphy is her solace. What will she do without it? Why couldn't Morino-sensei understand how important this club is to her? If he only gave her a few more days, she might have been able to find someone..

Nanoka is interrupted by a buzz in her skirt pocket, and she numbly pulls out her phone.

_Where are you? -T_

Right, tutoring. Nanoka was in the middle of tutoring. Nanoka's body slouches forward, as if someone has pulled out the anterior portion of her spine. She makes her way to the library with heavy footsteps. She hears the audible gasp of Kindaichi as she literally collapses into her chair next to Tobio when she makes it to the library. Her head falls on top of her notes, sending a few stray papers aflutter. The boys keep their mouth shut, shocked at Nanoka's sudden depression when she seemed fine when she left them. Kindaichi and Kunimi's eyes trail from Nanoka's hair(which at this point look like tentacles trying to eat their notes), to Tobio, who is already sweating with anxiety. Kunimi mouths 'do something!' to Tobio, but he shakes his head frantically. They are at a standstill as no one wants to approach their upperclasman.

Not noticing the predicament the boys are in, Nanoka continues to brood. And the more she broods, the sadder she gets, and the sadder she gets, the more she wants to cry. Nanoka starts to shake at intervals, until she curls into herself like a snail sprinkled with salt and shudders uncontrollably. The boys pale at the first sob that breaks the silence, and go into full out silent panic at her weeping. Kindaichi and Kunimi shove Tobio towards Nanoka like a sacrifice to a beast, but all Tobio does is hover uselessly. He tries to reach out to perhaps pat her back, but then he remembers that boyfriends are supposed to hug their girlfriends when they're sad, but Tobio doesn't know if this was the right opportunity, so he is stuck holding his hands out but not touching Nanoka. Suddenly, he is hit with a solution, and Tobio runs out of the library without a word to Kunimi or Kindaichi. Thinking he has fled cowardly, Kindaichi seethes. Kunimi finally builds up the courage to approach Nanoka.

"A-Arakita-senpai? Are you alright?" Kunimi stutters out, nervous sweat running down his neck. Kindaichi is screaming silently in the background, "She's obviously not okay!". Nanoka grinds her forehead into her notebook, crinkling the pages. "Okay, is there anything we can do to help?" Nanoka shakes her head once again. Kunimi backs up at her stubborn answer, left to simply watch his tutor smudge her writing with her teardrops.

The boys hear a ruckus by the entrance and look up to see Nanoka's short friend shove Tobio into a bookcase. She runs over to the crying girl and easily pulls Nanoka off of the table when the boys couldn't even touch her.

"Nanoka! What happened?" Chiharu, they remember her name, exclaims. Nanoka pushes Chiharu away, but puts too much force into, unintentionally throwing Chiharu into a barely recovered Tobio. Instead of getting mad, Chiharu bounces back and grasps Nanoka's arm and starts to drag Nanoka out of her chair.

"We're going to the bathroom." Chiharu huffs, determined. Nanoka tries to push her away again, but gives up when Chiharu's talons don't relent. She allows herself to be dragged away, leaving her three underclassmen frazzled and concerned. Tobio glares at the ground, absentmindedly dusting off his gakuran.

He has gotten Chiharu to talk to Nanoka, but he still felt pretty useless. If he was more confident, maybe he could have helped Nanoka himself. But instead, he froze up.

And Tobio told himself it won't happen again.

The bell has chimed just minutes before, but Chiharu easily weaves through the crowd to the girl's bathroom. There are two girls in the facility chatting by the sinks, but at the sight of Nanoka, quickly pack their belongings and leave to give the girls space. Chiharu sits Nanoka by the floor under the small tinted window. Nanoka immediately buries her face back into her arms, too ashamed to show Chiharu her crying face. Chiharu sits next to her and wraps her thin arms around the taller girl, pulling her bestfriend in to lean against her.

"Shhh, what happened?" Chiharu inquires softly. Nanoka's tense shoulders eventually lower, still shaking, and Nanoka buries her face into Chiharu's sweater vest, finding comfort in the smell of her cheap perfume.

"M-ah-ah-y cu-cu-clu-b," Nanoka sobs out. "It-t's go-o-ohne." Saying it out loud makes the reality hit her harder, and she lets out a wail. Chiharu rubs soothing circles on her back, and places her head on top of Nanoka's in an attempt to cocoon the girl.

"I'm sorry Nanoka." Chiharu whispers into her hair. "I'm sorry." Nanoka simply cries harder.

All her work, gone gone _gone_.

-.-.-

Nanoka finally calms enough for her sentences to come off as coherent, and Chiharu does a brilliant job cleaning Nanoka's face of snot and tears. Class has begun thirty minutes ago, and her accidental delinquent behavior doesn't sit well with Nanoka, so she is trying to regain her composure and look the part before returning to her classroom. She nearly cringes when she realizes that she left her pencil case and notebooks in Kageyama's classroom, where she has left three prepubescent boys in a near panic-state.

"Do you want me to put concealer on your under eyes? They look pretty bad." Chiharu offers, jiggling her makeup purse. Nanoka shakes her head. She has placed a paper towel soaked with cold water on her eyes to lessen the swelling, but she should probably get a real ice pack if she didn't want to go home looking like she got stung by bees on both her eyes.

"I want to go to the nurse's office to lay down a little." Nanoka says. Her voice sounds croaky and she clears her throat. Chiharu shrugs.

"You should skip the rest of your classes I think." Chiharu advises, scrutinizing Nanoka's red and swollen eyes. "You probably won't be able to focus anyway."

"I can't, I'm failing English." Nanoka mumbles. Chiharu's eyes widen.

"Why are you tutoring Kageyama-kun when you're failing one of your own classes?!" Chiharu gasps. Nanoka groans.

"Because he asked? I felt bad...can we not talk about this right now?" Chiharu opens her mouth, but grits her teeth and turns away. They gather their meager belongings and exit the bathroom to head towards the infirmary. The abruptly stop when they notice a certain someone lurking by the entrance.

"...Tobio-kun?"

Tobio looks up in surprise, and quickly jogs over to them. Chiharu makes an obvious sneer, but Nanoka pinches her side to keep her quiet. Tobio's face is apprehensive, and he stops when he is a meter away from them. He looks at her face with concern, but Nanoka is too exhausted to feel embarrassed.

"What are you doing here?" She asks. Tobio twiddles his thumbs, a nervous sweat dripping down his cheek.

"Just...just making sure you're alright." He glances up. "...Are you alright?" Nanoka cracks a smile at his timidity.

"...Yeah." Nanoka's eyes drifts towards Chiharu, who is standing nearby, her arms crossed impatiently. Her chest warms. "I'm alright."

When Nanoka explains where she is heading, Tobio stubbornly trails along, forcing Chiharu to return to class after she loses in a battle of hard-headedness. Nanoka eventually threatens Tobio into returning to class also, claiming bad grades are very unattractive. After he leaves, Nanoka collapses back onto the cot. The nurse has shut the curtains around the bed to give her some sense of privacy, so Nanoka shakes off her shoes and rolls under the cover, deciding to take a well deserved nap.

Outside, a floor above and three rooms away, Chiharu is texting furiously. Her usual clique of friends wisely choose not to interrupt her concentration.

_Calligraphy Class: Starting at $120-no, too expensive._

_Calligraphy Workshop with Gengorou $300 per session-Worse! So much worse!_

_Beginner's Calligraphy-nope._

_Karasuno Art Academy Calligraphy Class-Ugh, it's at college._

_Gaijin Calligraphy-_

"Whatcha doing?" Chiharu immediately snaps her phone shut in reflex and looks up to glare at the intruder of her personal bubble. She immediately slaps on a love-sick grin when she sees who it is.

"Oikawa-kun!" She coyly tucks her bangs behind her ear and lowers her gaze. "Just doing some research is all." She gives her clique a quick glance and Oikawa's sharp eyes notice. He scratches his cheek, playing along with this little game of hers.

"Oh, you mean our weekend hangout? I'm looking forward to it." Chiharu resists rolling her eyes at the gasps from behind her. She giggles shyly and gets up from her seat. Oikawa leans away from the windowsill to give her some room.

"We still have a few minutes of break, let's chat!" Chiharu skips to the entrance of the classroom, where Oikawa meets her. She links her arm with his and they walk away, ignoring the loud whispers of her classmates. Once out of sight, Chiharu immediately detaches herself from him and goes back to staring at her phone. Oikawa pouts.

"No need to be so rude! Is my company really that bad?" This time, Chiharu doesn't resist rolling her eyes.

"Ugh, not my priority right now." Oikawa peers over shoulder noseily, and Chiharu tries to rebuff him by turning her phone screen away from him. Oikawa continues to circle around her, causing her to basically dance and spin in place.

"What _is_ your priority?" Giving up Chiharu leans out of the hallway window, the warm summer breeze immediately mussing her hair.

"I'm trying to find a place for Nanoka to do her calligraphy." Oikawa cocks his head in confusion.

"Doesn't she have a club?" Chiharu clenches her phone.

"...it disbanded." Noticing the atmosphere, Oikawa tones down his playfulness.

"Oh." He turns towards the window also, and dangles his arms out into the open air. The only sound between them is the plastic clicking of Chiharu's phone. Oikawa mulls over his thoughts, weighing the pros and cons of the decision he is about to make. Finally, he decides to speak up.

"Hey Chiharu-chan, I have an idea." Chiharu looks at him with the corner of her eye, not exactly suspiciously, but with a certain level of wariness.

"Go on."

-.-.-

"Nanocchi! Wake up! I have big big _biiiiig _news!"

"Kichijou-san, inside voice."  
"Sorry ma'am!"

Nanoka groans into the flimsy pillow. She croaks into the linen.

"Not now, Haru." Chiharu pokes her head in between the curtains despite the nurse's protests. She looks like a floating head in the amass of fabric.

"Yes now!" After a few seconds, Chiharu pipes up again. "School is over in ten minutes anyway!" Nanoka jolts up.

"It's 2:50?!" It feels like she only slept for 10 minutes! She has only meant to skip English, but now she has skipped History and Chemistry also. Crap. Considering her lack of protest as consent to enter, Chiharu jumps onto the borrowed bed.

"Forget about your classes for now! Look at this!" Chiharu shoves her phone into Nanoka face, and the tired girl leans back to see the screen properly.

"Volunteer Calligraphy Instructor Needed at Karasuno Community Center-," Nanoka immediately grabs the phone and reads the contents more carefully, Chiharu sitting smugly next to her. After a few more minutes, Nanoka quietly returns the phone to her best friend. She turns to her with watery eyes. And the swell just went down too.

"Y-you found this? For me?" Chiharu considers taking the credit, but thinks of the possible consequences if Oikawa finds out, and decides to go clean.

"Weell, it wasn't me. It was Oikawa-kun. He teaches kids volleyball at the Center sometimes, and saw the flyer. When I told him about the situation, he hooked me up." Nanoka shakily raises her hand to her mouth to muffle a sob. "Oh Nanocchi, don't cry! Your eyes will get all red and puffy again!" She protests. Nanoka fans her own reddening face, but the tears are already rolling down her face.

"I-I know! But I'm so touched!" Chiharu bites her lower lip to hold back a grin.

"You can still do calligraphy, Nanocchi." Chiharu singsongs. Nanoka hiccups.

"I know." Chiharu scoots over to embrace the crying girl.

"Aren't I amazing? I can fix any problem you have!" Chiharu boasts. Nanoka laughs, not noticing the overly tight grip Chiharu has on her.

_So don't replace me._

-.-.-

**Culture Notes**

Traditional Japanese public schools, from Elementary to High School, have window in their classroom that face the hallway. Not sure what the reason for it exactly is, possibly for better air circulation, or so students will fail their exams by their friends making funny faces outside the window. Who knows. It makes socialization between different classes a little easier though. Teachers are also all crammed into a teacher's lounge instead of having their own offices or a subject department. The only adults with their own room is probably the nurse and the principal.

-.-.-

This semester makes me want to quit school and become a hermit. Two science intensive classes together create nothing but chaos and stress. This chapter has been a WIP for 5 months. It's also uneditted, but it's 2AM in the morning so even if I do edit it, I probably won't catch any grammatical errors. Will do later.

In order to churn out chapters at a better pace than thrice a year, I'm going to shorten the chapter length from 5000+ words to 4000+ words.

-.-.-

Below is the promised oneshot! I loved writing this because AUs are always fun. It's contents are unrelated to the plot of The Daily Struggles of Arakita Nanoka.

Thanks for the prompt, Tamani!

-.-.-

Request: _Can I suggest for my one shot the AU that they stay together as a couple and make it to high school (AU just because I don't know if they will be staying together) and one day after volleyball practice tobio tells his team that he can't walk home with them because he has to pick up his girlfriend from the train station (she is coming to visit him for the weekend) and how the team reacts to finding out not only does he have a girlfriend but they have been dating for 4 years now (hinata probably thinks that she is just as scary as tobio) XD _-Tamani

Everyone thought everyone on the volleyball team was single. The member most likely to get a girlfriend is Tsukishima, they decided, since he is the most good looking on the team, but his personality and attitude drove away any girls who were crazy enough to think they had a chance. Tsukishima's closest female relationships were probably limited to his mother and Yachi(and that poor angel still jumps three feet when he talks to her).

Kageyama was the least likely person to have a girlfriend, the members voted unanimously.

He's loud and brash (things about boys girls don't like, Hinata explained sagely), has a mean mug, and his horrible grades is bound to scare off any girls.

So when club ends and the boys change back into their casual wear or gakuran, it comes as a surprise when Kageyama exclaims, "Crap, I forgot to pick up my girlfriend," followed by a string of incoherent curse words. The Karasuno team members gawk at the teenager.

"You have a girlfriend?" Hinata shrieks. Noya and Tanaka flank him, looking ominous.

"Hey man, we don't appreciate jokes like that here," Tanaka growls. Tsukishima pipes up from the back.

"Yeah, they're sensitive!" He cackles. Kageyama becomes flustered at being ganged up on by his teammates.

"I really need to go!" Kageyama says. He shoves his belongings in his gym bag and rushes out of the room before anyone else can stop him. They hear a crash outside and a girlish scream. Daichi and Suga immediately go to investigate and are startled to see a girl on the floor besides a small suitcase that has burst open. Kageyama is nowhere to be seen. Suga helps the groaning girl up and aids her in recollecting her belongings.

Turns out, in his rush, Kageyama had knocked into the girl, and couldn't stop the momentum and ended up skidding down the stairs on his ass. The black haired girl glares up at him and Kageyama flinches away with a squeak.

"What the heck is your problem?! First you don't come pick me up, and now you try to kill me? Also you owe me a taxi fare!" Kageyama claps his hands together, bowing his head in shame.

"I'm sorry!" He blurts out. The rest of the Karasuno volleyball team peek out of their clubroom, attracted by the noise. Daichi and Suga stare, bewildered at what they were witnessing. Nanoka jerks her chin up and grabs her suitcase.

"No." Kageyama's expression has a hint of panic as Nanoka makes her way around him. He trails after her awkwardly, reluctant to touch her but trying to be as close to physically possible.

"Please forgive me..." Kageyama is visibly sweating and his face is pinched with worry. She ignores him, hefts the suitcase up, and waddles down the stairs. The crowd of teenagers leans on the railing to watch the procession.

"No." Nanoka starts rolling the suitcase across the field, Kageyama hovering at every step, making attempts at blocking her or taking her suitcase, but to no avail.

When their bickering is no longer discernable, Tsukishima coughs.

"That's his girlfriend?" Suga blinks.

"Wow, that was…"

"A whirlwind?" Asahi supplies. Suga nods. Hinata shivers.

"She was scary." But after consideration, he adds, "And cool. She totally subdued Kageyama! She needs to teach me how to do that!" Ennoshita nods.

"Oh yeah, he's totally whipped." The older members of the team nod in agreement.

The gaggle of teens end of bumping into the couple again at Ukai's corner store. This time, the girl looks more placated and Kageyama is the one carrying all her luggage, including her suitcase and feminine backpacks with over twenty trinkets dangling from it. The sight made Tanaka and Noya burst out into laughter. The girl shyly bows to them.

"I'm sorry for my uncouth behavior before." She apologizes. "My name is Arakita Nanoka, I'm Tobio's girlfriend. Nice to meet you." Yamaguchi is awed.

"She called him Tobio!" He whispers to Tsukishima, who shushes him with a "You're noisy." ("Sorry Tsukki!") Kageyama returns from the cashier with two meat buns, handing one to Nanoka, who apparently hasn't ate since she was stranded at the train station two hours ago. Daichi also returns with an armful of meat buns and passes the paper bag around. Once everyone has their share, the boys feel comfortable enough to talk.

"How long have you been dating Kageyama?" Nanoka exchanges a look with Kageyama.

"Um...three...four years, I think." The audience gasps.

"Four?!" Noya melts to the ground.

"My kouhai...dating for four years...when I haven't even held hand with Kiyoko-san yet…" Daichi pats his back, but his face shows no sympathy.

"There there." After finding out that Nanoka is a lot more approachable than they thought, the conversation gets louder. Soon they were all laughing and sharing Kageyama stories, much to his chagrin.

"We should go, your parents are expecting us for dinner right?" Nanoka breathes into her hands to warm them. Kageyama nods.

"Yeah. We should probably take a cab." The couple departs, heading to the main road. When Nanoka breaths into her hands again, Kageyama shifts his gym bag to his left shoulder and grabs her hand, shoving it into his jacket pocket. "There." Nanoka grins sheepishly and nestles into his side.

"They seem like nice people." Nanoka says after a few minutes. "Are you getting along with them?" Kageyama nods.

"Most of them." She laughs at his honesty.

"I'm glad you were able to fit into this team." Kageyama sighs, watching his breath fog. He leans into Nanoka, who barely reaches his shoulders. He presses his nose against her hair.

"Yeah. Me too."

-.-.-

I'll probably write a ~1000 word oneshot/analysis for any reviewer who gives a good/interesting prompt or question and include it in the next chapter. I won't answer any questions that will spoil the story(what high school will she go to, will she and Tobio break up, etc), but small things like _will Nanoka ever meet Hinata? _or _What's Nanoka's favorite band?_ I can answer via PM and at the end of the chapter.

Example prompts/questions:

•Nanoka and Iwaizumi decide to elope and adopt Oikawa as their child. Crack AU.

•What does Chiharu think of Kunimi and Kindaichi?

•Nanoka becomes a magical girl. What's her wish?

•Tobio suddenly inherits a kingdom AU.

If you want to share your own analysis, I would love to discuss with you! Drop me a PM or review.

Thank you for reading.

Lots of love,

donut


	8. Attention

_NOT-PROOFED_

_-.-.-_

**June**

Time flies as Nanoka struggles to keep her head afloat at school. Despite the extra time she now has due to the disbandment of her club, her growing schoolwork and nearing midterms gives her no opportunity to socialize. Tobio notices her absence and gripes about it, but thankfully doesn't make too much of a fuss about it. He has managed to wrangle a promise out of her to attend one of their practice matches in the upcoming month to make up for their lack of dates. Tobio, Kunimi, and Kindaichi's test comes and goes, and they all get a passing grade. Since the latter two boys now feel indebt to their tutor, they occasionally aid Nanoka by helping with her school chores* or herding Tobio away when he gets too overbearing. For that, Nanoka is grateful.

Somewhere along the line Nanoka makes Oikawa a bento after asking Iwaizumi what his favorite foods were ("I swear I'm not becoming a fangirl, please stop looking so disappointed."), to thank him for letting her know about the calligraphy volunteer opportunity when he had no obligation to. Knowing by now that Tobio is the easily jealous type, she skirts around his classroom to give the gift to the brunet. Oikawa looks very surprised at the homemade lunch, but accepts it graciously and promises to return the box to her by the end of the day. Just as Nanoka thinks Oikawa is actually a mature human being, he returns her bento box in the middle of the gym where all his teammates are watching, thanking her profusely for his customized bento with hearts on it(there weren't any). Because of that, Tobio's anxiety about their dating status goes up and Nanoka ends up having to appease him for an entire week before he is content again. Nanoka gives Oikawa the cold shoulder for a week and a half before Iwaizumi begs her to forgive the man-child("He just mopes and mopes and _mopes_! I can't take it anymore!").

It is the Sunday before midterms week when her phone buzzes obnoxiously on her desk. Nanoka is jolted out of her slumber and blearily tries to locate her phone by slapping whatever surface she can get her hands on. She looks at her phone screen and squints her eyes. _Why is Tobio-kun calling me at four in the morning?_

"Hello?" Nanoka croaks out. There is light static, from wind, probably, on the other side of the line.

"Nanoka, where are you?" Tobio asks. Nanoka collapses back onto her bed, the phone held loosely in her hand.

"Home. In bed. Like normal people at 4AM." She groans. It's too early to be polite.

"The bus is leaving at 5 you know. Doesn't it take you thirty minutes to get here?"

"Huh?" Nanoka feels alarm bells going off in the back of her head. She's forgetting something, but her brain isn't awake enough to figure out what. She hears Tobio's voice starting to sound hesitant.

"You were supposed to come watch a game, remember?" He gently reminds her. Insecurity oozes from his question.

Right. that's what it was. She quickly reassures Tobio that she is coming, just give her some time to prepare herself and head out. She rolls out of bed and shuffles into her slippers.

"Do you need me to come pick you up?" Tobio offers. Nanoka freezes at the thought of her mother meeting Tobio when the woman doesn't know that Nanoka is even dating.

"No!" Nanoka nearly shouts. Catching herself, Nanoka breaths slowly. "No, it's okay. I know how to get to school, Tobio-kun, I go everyday, remember?" Tobio sounds taken aback by her harsh retort, and she feels guilty. It's not really his fault that Nanoka has to hide everything from her mother. Maybe a few years down the line she can properly introduce him (and by then Tobio's personality will be more… normal. Hopefully.)

"If you say so." With that, the volleyball player hangs up, leaving Nanoka to figure out what to wear, bring, and make and eat breakfast in the span of thirty minutes. As she hastily brushes out her long black hair, Nanoka does a mental checklist of what Tobio has told her. _It's a game between our school and Umiyoko Middle School. It's an one hour drive. We're having lunch there. Bring food. I might serve again._

_ Watch me._

-.-.-

"I can't believe you're forcing Arakita-senpai to come to this game." Kindaichi grumbles, huddling with Kunimi and another teammate to preserve their body heat. Despite it being early summer, mornings are still relatively chilly. Many of the boys did not bring their jerseys, and they are currently regretting it. "She should be focusing on her midterms. Second year grades are very important you know?" Tobio hmphs, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"She promised. I'm not forcing her." Kunimi rolls his eyes, but doesn't respond. Their school bus finally rolls into the small parking lot and the teenagers fight to be the third in line (Oikawa and Iwaizumi are naturally first and second). Tobio nervously glances at his phone and the entrance to the school. Nanoka has only fifteen minutes before the bus leaves without her. Tobio stays on the pavement as his teammates bustle into the vehicle.

"Roll call!" Their coach hollers. Iwaizumi notices Tobio still outside, and sheds his gym bag to put on his seat and exits the bus. Oikawa watches him curiously with tired eyes. He accidentally stayed up all night watching Umiyoko practice games, and he only slept for three hours.

"Get on the bus, Kageyama, it's warmer." Iwaizumi advises at the steps of the bus. Tobio glances at him, but does not budge.

"I'm waiting for Nanoka." Iwaizumi blinks in surprise.

"Arakita is coming?" Tobio nods. Right on cue, Nanoka's figure appears at the corner of the school, quickly approaching. She has a light pink backpack on her shoulders(with tons of keychains attached), a brand new sky blue fine knit cardigan, with a knee length floral skirt. Tobio is now used to seeing Nanoka wearing something other than her school uniform, but Iwaizumi isn't, and he almost doesn't recognize her. He has always thought Nanoka's fashion would be more clean cut and tame, and does a double take at the sheer girliness of the outfit. He never thought Nanoka is the type to go for flowery things but...it suits her, he thinks.

"Nanoka, you were about to be late!" Tobio chides. Nanoka, sweating and exhausted, can only nod as she bends over to catch her breath.

"Don't worry, you still had ten minutes. We would have waited for you anyway." Iwaizumi reassures. Nanoka shoots him a quick smile, and he quirks his lips back. They are ushered into the bus by the coach and much to Tobio's chagrin, Nanoka is placed next to the only other girl on the bus, the team manager. She introduced herself as Sakamoto Mami, but tells Nanoka that everyone just calls her by her first name.

"Why can't she sit with me?" Tobio argues. The coach crosses his arms in a 'no nonsense' way.

"Mami-chan gets lonely being the only girl all the time. I'm sure your girlfriend doesn't mind." Nanoka giggles at Tobio's pout.

"I'll sit with you after the game." _He'll probably be less jittery by then too._ When everyone settles and the bus starts moving, Mami turns to her, a serious look on her face.

"You'll regret that." Nanoka blinks in confusion.

"What?" Mami lightly rolls her eyes, leaning back into her seat.

"Saying you'll sit with the boys. They stink like five week old gym socks after their matches. We have to open every window on the bus on the way back." Oikawa, who is sitting behind the girls with Iwaizumi, pops his head over their seat. The action makes Nanoka squeak and lean back in surprise. Oikawa shouts,

"Do not!" Mami shoves his face back behind them with her whole hand.

"Do too!" Unbothered, Oikawa swats her hand away.

"Nana-chan, are you ready for our match? Umiyoko is apparently really tough! It's be intense!" Nanoka smiles back indulgently, like a babysitter to a child, at his excitement.

"That sounds very exciting." She says. besides her, Mami squints her eyes at Oikawa.

"Oikawa...did you sleep last night?" Oikawa freezes. Next to him, Iwaizumi leans forward to join his childhood friend.

"I did-"

"He didn't, I kept on getting texts ranging from 11PM to 3AM." Oikawa makes a face akin to 'The Scream'. Mami growls at him and he cowers dramatically.

"I warned you not to do that before our practice matches!" Oikawa weakly glares at Iwaizumi, who looks indifferent.

"Iwa-chan! Don't rat me out!" Mami grabs his ears and shakes his head violently. Nanoka stares on in horror.

"You have bags under your eyes! _Bags_!"

"Mami-chan ow, ow, ow, ow!" When she lets him go, Oikawa falls back into his seat with a whimper, cradling his bright red ear.

"You're compromising your own performance by being tired, dummy." Mami huffs. She crosses her arms and turns back towards the front, obviously done scolding the team captain. Nanoka notices that no one blinked an eye at the display, and realizes that it is a common occurrence. Noticing her gaping face, Iwaizumi shrugs.

"Mami helps keep Oikawa in line when I'm not around. Shaking him around seems to be the only thing that works." He then shoves his jersey on top of Oikawa whimpering figure, commanding him to nap. Now that Mami mentioned it, Oikawa _does_ look tired. There are slight bags under his eyes, and his usually good posture is slumped forward. His smile doesn't reach his eyes. _Not that it did before. Just not as much._

An hour later, the bus rolls into Umiyoko's parking lot. The students amble out, stretching their limbs. In front of the school, the coach and advisor greet them, and guides them to the gym. Mami laughs at Nanoka hiding her face in her hoodie when the boys start changing into their proper gear.

"It's just some flimsy abs, Nanoka-san." Nanoka pulls the drawstrings of her hoodie tighter, but Mami sees her take a peek anyway, and gives her a shit-eating grin. Nanoka huffs. _If Iwaizumi-san and Oikawa-san had a child, it'll be her_.

Tobio sneaks up to her and taps her shoulder, making Nanoka leap meters into air.

"T-T-T-Tobio-kun!" Nanoka squawks, holding a hand to her heart. He looks just as surprised at her at her reaction. Tobio has already changed into her team jersey, and looks quite dashing in it. The jersey is slightly baggy with the anticipation of his continuing growth spurt, but she can tell he will fill it quite nicely in a few months or so.

"Sorry Nanoka, I didn't mean to surprise you." Tobio looks abashed, and Nanoka's heart instantly melts.

"It's okay. You didn't mean to." Nanoka tucks her bang behind her ear, ducking her head to peer up at him through her lashes shyly. "Can I help you?" Tobio opens his mouth to say something, but looks down at her thin cardigan instead. He unzips his jersey, shrugs it off, and quickly wraps it around Nanoka. She is immediately enveloped in Tobio's scent, and feels the retained body heat in the fabric.

"You looked cold." Tobio says. Nanoka smiles appreciatively, pulling her arms through the sleeves and zipping up the jacket.

"Thanks." The couple stand in front of each other awkwardly for a few seconds. Tobio looks at his shoes for a few seconds before leaning close. Nanoka's breath hitches, her chest constricting. His mouth nears her left ear.

"What...what did Oikawa-senpai say to you?" He whispers.

The flutters immediately go away and is immediately replacing with the feeling of a cold large stone weighing her down in her stomach. Nanoka pushes back the feeling of disappointment. Afraid it will show in her expression, Nanoka turns away slightly to shield her face.

"Nothing important, really." Tobio looks at her with a pout, unconvinced.

"Did he say anything about letting me serve?" Nanoka weak smile slips off her face entirely and she gives him a dry look.

"No." And she promptly walks away. Confused but still understanding that he said something wrong, Tobio moves to chase after her, only to be intercepted by his coach.

"Where do you think you're going young man?" Tobio opens and closes his mouth, hand half raised, pointing at the retreating girl. He quickly decides that he doesn't want the coach to think that he doesn't take these practice matches seriously and quickly fists his hands.

"Nowhere, sir." The coach sniffs and waves him off to join his teammates. Nanoka has retreated to the back of the bus where Mami is pulling out the rest of the supplies, boxes of vitamin waters and the like. Mami glances at Nanoka after unloading the last gym bag from the bus.

"...are you okay? You look upset." Nanoka doesn't respond, and Mami quickly reads between the unspoken lines and backs off. Nanoka feels bad for being rude to the girl who was only ever nice to her, but her stomach is in a tight knot and she doesn't think she can handle any socializing without lashing out and accidentally saying something mean. Nanoka remains crouched by the cardboard box of vitamin waters, trying to calm her thoughts. Why does Tobio not understand that it hurts her when he so blatantly disregards her feelings? Can't he talk about anything else other than volleyball? It isn't her that's expecting too much from him right? They..they don't even hold hands! They've been dating for two months! Chiharu would have been kissing her boyfriend by now! Nanoka is suddenly hit with an epiphany. _Wait, does Tobio-kun even know how to kiss? Is that why he's so shy? Is he ashamed that he doesn't know how to take the lead? Is it a boy thing?_ Steam rises from her ears. _Urgh, thinking about this makes my brain hurt._

"Hellooo? Nana-chan, we're relocating to the gym. Are you in there?" Oikawa's waving hand appears in her vision and Nanoka cries out in surprise, falling into the box of towels behind her. Iwaizumi cuffs Oikawa lightly in the shoulder.

"You scared her, Ahokawa."

"It wasn't on purpose!" Iwaizumi quickly pull Nanoka up and checks her for injuries, repeatedly asking if she was alright. Embarrassed at the excessive babying, Nanoka flutters her hands in a half hearted slapping motion to keep their hands away from her.

"S-stop it! Geez!" Oikawa elbows Iwaizumi's side.

"Iwa-chan, your motherly side is showing too much! It's grossing out poor Nana-chan!" Oikawa advises in a condescending manner. A vein pulses on Iwaizumi's forehead and Nanoka quickly intervenes before the situation escalates into something she'd rather not be caught in the middle of.

"Why are you guys here?" Oikawa turns to her, easily accepting the change in topic.

"Coach asked us to help you carry the heavy stuff in. Mami-chan is talking to Umiyoko's manager about where the first aid kit is and stuff." He shrugs. Oikawa and Nanoka both stare at Iwaizumi, waiting for his input. The tanner boy inhales through his nose, crossing his arms. He looks to the side.

"Let's just get this over with so we can stretch." Nanoka smiles apologetically at him while Oikawa is distracted by trying to balance two boxes atop each other.

"I really appreciate you worrying about me. I was just in a bad mood, so I was short with you." Iwaizumi doesn't reply, making her think that he is still upset with her. Nanoka tries to adopt a reassuring tone. "I don't think you're gross at all." When he still doesn't acknowledge her, she decides he needs a little time to himself, so Nanoka grabs some empty water bottles and trots into the school building ahead of them. Oikawa waddles closer, managing to navigate with his front vision blocked by a cardboard box. He blinks at the squatting boy.

"Is that box too heavy for you?" Oikawa's voice breaks Iwaizumi's reverie and Iwaizumi quickly hefts the box up and starts power walking away, but it is too late. Oikawa's eyes widen with astonishment. "Iwa-chan, are you _blushing_?!"

"Shut up, Busu-kawa!"

"Wha- leave my face out of this!"

-.-.-

_Piiiiii!_

"...fuck." Mami drops her head into her hands. Nanoka cringes as 'Don't mind!'s are thrown around by their team.

That's the 3rd time Oikawa has messed up.

The coach's face is looking grimmer and grimmer at each miss Oikawa makes, and the sheer frustration on Oikawa's face is making everyone on the team on edge. This is only the first set, and it's not looking good. Just watching gives Nanoka anxiety and cold sweat.

Iwaizumi places his palm on Oikawa's back reassuringly. "It's fine, we all have our off days." He grunts. Oikawa doesn't respond, but tightens his fists.

Oikawa's body is not listening to him, and his knee is failing him. His jumps don't reach, his serves are weak, and his reflexes are seconds off. Why is his body doing this to him? He honed his skills and polished his every move with practice, practice, _practice_, yet _it's not enough!_

Just what else does he need to do to get on the same level as a genius? It's already hard enough that he doesn't have the natural ability to play this game, but he can't, he just can't, watch Tobio overthrow him this early. It's too soon for his peak to end! Oikawa growls and slams his fist into his knee in frustration. Iwaizumi and their coach make eye contact, and the old man shakes his head. Iwaizumi looks away, refusing to meet anyone's eye. He should have been on top of Oikawa more, kept him from making stupid decisions like staying up till 3AM.

The referee blows a time out whistle, and it sounds like a death sentence to the third year setter. The man rotates his arms over each other. _Member change._ The boys stop what they are doing and look at the bench to see who is getting swapped in. Oikawa's inhales through his teeth, making a whistling noise akin to a dying man.

Tobio.

Tobio the genius is holding up a wooden flag with his number.

_Oh god._

Oikawa numbly moves towards the box where the rest of his teammates are on standby, but his coach steps in front of him and shakes his head.

"You're not playing for the rest of the game. Go sit on the bench with Mami and cool your head." Oikawa pales, and even Kunimi and Kindaichi's eyes widen at those words. Oikawa opens his mouth to argue, but he is jostled by a passing Tobio. He clamps his lips shut and stomps towards the girls, who quickly make a space between them for him to sit, either to get out of his path of fire or out of concern. When he drops onto the bench, Mami immediately hands him a sports towel and a vitamin water with Oikawa's name written on the plastic.

"Donmai, Oikawa." She mutters. Nanoka tentatively places her palm on Oikawa's heaving back. The boy doesn't react, haven't noticed her hand due to his brooding. Oikawa is good at concentrating, and now he is focused on his mistakes on the court and how they were avoidable if he just did certain things differently. He intertwines his fingers and leans his forehead against them, breathing deeply. Mami recognizes his stance and leaves him alone, knowing better than to break his concentration. Nanoka at first copies Mami's nonplus response, but she can't help but feel that Oikawa is berating himself in his mind. His body is tense and his face is scrunched up in anger, possibly at himself. Nanoka knows being upset at yourself for previous errors will get you nowhere, but she doesn't know what to say without sounding insensitive, so she hesitates before pressing her hand more firmly into his back, not minding the sweat or heat. She edges closer to him until her shoulder bumps against his.

For Oikawa, that touch of warmth was all he needed.

The sound of the squeaking sneakers, rustling papers, and Mami's nervous tapping washes over him, drowning out his self-criticism. His furrowed eyebrows loosen and the creases in his forehead smooth out. When Oikawa doesn't pull away from her touch, Nanoka silently strokes his back in a soothing gesture. She is glad is know that even if she hasn't said anything, Oikawa is comforted to some extent.

Tobio glares at them from the side of his eye, bouncing the volleyball in his right hand.

"Nanoka!" He calls. His girlfriend jerks her head up in surprise, accidentally nudging the setter next to her. The first year makes eye contact with her, willing her to understand the sheer necessity of her attention on him. He needs to prove himself worthy of her, by being the best of the best.

If he's going to climb his way to the top, he's going to make her watch.

Nanoka swallows thickly and waves her hand in a halfhearted hello. She sees Tobio's pupils shift to the side, looking at her and Oikawa's touching shoulders. She immediately moves away, patting her skirt in an abashed manner.

_What was I thinking, sidling up to another boy like that! Of course Tobio-kun will misunderstand!_ But...Oikawa just looked so down...she couldn't just leave him alone… She looks back up at Tobio, hoping he'll understand, but his eyes are already on the court. She sighs in defeat and puts her hands on the bench, leaning back to slouch her spine.

The game's momentum has shifted to Kitagawa Daiichi's favor the moment Tobio stepped onto the court. They win 2:0 / 25-15, 25-06. Oikawa has stayed frozen during the whole game, only moving when it is time for the students to line up to thank each other for the game. Nanoka helps Mami gather the discarded sports towels and bottles that were used during the break. She stops when Tobio approaches her, a grim expression on his face. She stands up to her full height.

"Tobio-kun, about before-" Tobio cuts her off by grabbing her upper arm. Nanoka squeaks in surprise when he starts dragging her out of the gym. "T-Tobio-kun!" Mami watches them, looking alarmed at his manhandling. Nanoka awkwardly shakes her head at her, mouthing to her that it's fine. Mami frowns at her, but doesn't move any further from her spot. She is itching to get an adult, or even an upperclassman for help, because Tobio looked irritated and while he has never hit anyone, he says some pretty vicious things when pushed to the edge. Mami likes Nanoka, and knows that she has done nothing wrong, and Tobio is just putting whatever anger he has out on her. She hastily stuffs all the supplies in the cardboard boxes and jogs over to Iwaizumi, who is quietly conversing with a still downtrodden Oikawa.

"Good game, Iwaizumi, Oikawa," She greets. Iwaizumi grins and thanks her, and Oikawa also offers a tentative smile. Good, he's slowly returning to normal. "Can you bring the towels and stuff back to the bus? There's something I need to check out." Oikawa smirks when his eyes follow her gaze to the couple that has just turned the corner.

"Are you going to go eavesdrop on the lovebirds?" He teases, whispering in a conspiratory manner. "I didn't know you were so nosey, Mami-chan." Mami slaps his shoulder in response, completely unamused by his antics.

"I'm just worried about them, they look like they're about to argue." Iwaizumi instantly looks disquieted by the news and Oikawa silently chuckles. _Looks like Nana-chan got another worrywart parent._

Mami kicks off her squeaky sneakers and sprints across the gym in her striped socks and disappears around the corner. Iwaizumi is conflicted, he can tell by his pouting expression, so Oikawa does him a favor and makes the choice for him. He shoves Iwaizumi forward.

"You can still tail Mami-chan if you run now." Oikawa singsongs. Iwaizumi sticks his tongue out at him, but starts jogging towards the door too. After he also disappears, the brunet puts his hands on his waist and leans back, stretching his spine. He then cracks his neck and rolls his shoulders, humming to himself.

"Let's see how much of this I can do myself before the coach catches on."

-.-.-

"T-Tobio-kun! Slow down!" Nanoka is barely able to wheeze out these words in between her pants. Tobio has dragged her all the way around the gymnasium to the bike racks, where only a few bicycles are parked, most likely owned by their opposing team's volleyball members. She gets increasingly nervous when she notices that there is no one around. "Where are you taking me?"

Those words must have burst the bubble Tobio put himself in, for he abruptly stops, causing Nanoka to squish into his back by the unstoppable momentum. He glances around. "This place is quiet enough." Nanoka notices that Tobio hasn't let go of her hand, but doesn't mention it. She kind of likes it, having her hand being engulfed by his bigger, calloused ones. When he squeezes her hand ever so slightly, Nanoka looks up inquisitively. Tobio's face is pinched and a shadow has fallen on his eyes, for the sun is nearly behind him. The whites of his eyes make his beady irises look even more pronounced.

For the first time, Nanoka thinks Tobio is a little frightening.

"Don't talk to Oikawa-senpai."

"Excuse me?" Nanoka nearly pulls away, offputted by his commanding tone. He continues to hold her hand in a vice grip, not giving her the chance. Tobio's ears redden, a telltale sign of his embarrassment, as she has come to learn.

"You were paying attention to him." Tobio grumbles. "You should have been watching me play." Nanoka's heart takes that as a signal to beat to the rhythm of dribbling basketball. Heat rises from her collarbone, crawling up her neck to her cheeks.

_Tobio… Tobio-kun is jealous of Oikawa-senpai!_ Nanoka bites her lower lip before deciding on a proper response that won't aggravate the already uncomfortable setter.

"Oikawa-senpai was feeling really down, so I was just trying to be a supportive friend. I watched you play, don't worry." She reassures. Tobio makes a noise from the back of his throat, as if he didn't fully believe her. Nanoka places her other palm on Tobio's hand that is holding her right one, so her hands somewhat envelop his. "There's nothing for you to worry about."

"I still don't like it." Tobio pouts. "I don't like that he pays more attention to you when he doesn't teach me anything." The second year blinks at this new information. _So, Tobio is jealous of me too?_ She raises her shoulders in a 'I don't know' gesture.

"He's just being friendly." _And nosey,_ Nanoka adds in her thoughts. Tobio continues to glower at the ground.

"Just don't talk to Oikawa-senpai." Tobio reiterates. Nanoka's annoyance flares.

"You have no say in who I hang out with." Nanoka tells him firmly. Tobio finally looks up, and Nanoka almost takes a step back at the ferocity in his expression. It's the same face he made when he made the last, winning serve. It is commandeering and determined.

"I'm saying this for our relationship." The older girl blanches when the words finally register.

"For our relationship?!" Tobio nods. "Are you saying I'm cheating on you?!" Nanoka yanks her hands out of Tobio and holds them close to her chest. They're trembling. Tobio looks unperturbed, standing straighter in an unconscious attempt to assert his dominance over her. His face remains flushed, and Nanoka cannot tell if it's from anger or embarrassment at being in a lover's quarrel.

"You don't go on dates with me anymore-"

"I'm telling you I'm just busy with studying-"

"-and I always see you around Iwaizumi-senpai and-"

"They're my friends-"

"-Oikawa-senpai-"

"I said-" Nanoka feels tears already accumulating. God, she hates it when she cries during an argument. It makes her seem weak and emotional. Tobio troops on.

"-so what's wrong with me thinking that you're being unfaithful-"

"Stop it!"

"-never affectionate anyway-"

"I said _stop it_!" Nanoka screams. Tobio jolts, cutting off his sentence midway. His narrowed eyes widen fractionally at Nanoka's state. She's slightly bent over, her hands covering her face. Her back is heaving with labored breath. After a few seconds, she finally looks up, and Tobio's face pales at the trail of tears on her tomato red face. His heart clenches. _She's crying again!_

"If you, If you re-eally, want," Nanoka chokes out. She takes in a shaky break, then starts unzipping the jersey she is wearing. "Oikawa-senpai's attention," The girl balls it up and throws it at Tobio. It unravels midair and obscures his vision, causing him to squawk in surprise. While the boy is incapacitated, Nanoka shoves him, making him trip over his own feet and fall on his butt. Nanoka kicks his side for good measure and cries out, "Then you can be his boyfriend instead, you jerk!" She huffs, and stomps away, leaving indents of her shoes on the dusty ground. When she turns the corner, she nearly collides with Mami and Iwaizumi.

"What are you guys doing here?" Bewildered, she looks at them up and down before it clicks in her head when she sees their slightly guilty expression (Mami is trying to pass it off with a smile while Iwaizumi is already sweating nervously). "Oh." Nanoka hastily swipes at her tears, realizing belatedly that she is no longer wearing long sleeves and ends up just bringing their attention to her eyes. Mami hurriedly stands from her crouching position.

"Nanoka-san, what happened?!" Nanoka laughs shakily, fluttering her hands as if it isn't a big deal.

"It doesn't matter, I'm going to leave early." Iwaizumi raises his eyebrows.

"How are you going to leave, our bus doesn't leave until three." Nanoka grumbles.

"I'll take the subway." Mami gasps.

"Nanoka-san, that'll take forever! All the trains here are local-Nanoka-san!" Mami helplessly calls out to the already retreating girl. The manager moves to chase after her, but is stopped by Iwaizumi placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe she'll listen to me. Go check on Kageyama." Mami sucks on the inside of her cheek, having a mental tug-o-war in her head, but eventually nods.

"Alright." Iwaizumi breaks into a jog after Nanoka, and Mami fixes her shoulder length black hair in an attempt to regain her composure. She puts her shoes back on and quietly moves around the building from where Nanoka originally came from and sees-

-No one. Mami blinks.

_Huh, where did he go?_

-.-.-

**Culture Notes**

_School chores*:_ In Japanese schools, we have no janitors. Every facility at the school is maintained by the students. Everyday a rotation of students are assigned chores, from wiping windows, mopping (we use handmade rags usually) the hallway, dusting the chalkboard eraser, taking out the trash, and yes, even cleaning the bathroom. It teaches students respect and responsibility. Most schools are relatively clean anyway, since outdoor shoes are not allowed in the building.

-.-.-

**Author Notes**

I said in the last chapter I was going to start making these chapters shorter, yet here we are. I already spaced out the storyline based on the chapter lengths I had chosen before, so if I make it any shorter, it cuts off at awkward parts. Even this one was going to be around 8000 words so I had to chop it here. At a cliff hanger. I know, it's gross, I'm so sorry!

Sooo the next chapter will have a climax near the beginning. I'll put a small summary of the previous chapter at the top to make the transition easier.

Also this chapter had Oikawa and Nanoka fluff because Oikawa came top in the polls with 39 votes, and Iwaizumi got some love too because he came in 2nd at 32 votes. (3rd: Tobio, 4th: Kuroo, 5th:Noya, 6th:Suga, 7th:Tsukishima, 8th: Daichi, 9th: Asahi, 10th: Ushijima).

I got several prompts for this chapter, and I loved every single one of them! I decided to go with _Lani0108_'s adorable prompt this time.

-.-.-

_Nanoka accidentally drinks a love potion and chaos ensues. _

-.-.-

Nanoka and Tobio are strolling down the shopping district, casually shopping for miscellaneous goods along the way. Nanoka is busy perusing through a rack of keychains when Tobio tugs at her sleeve to get her attention. "Was that cafe always there?" He asks. Nanoka peers around him and follows his gaze.

Tobio is looking at a small storefront, squeezed in between a pharmacy and a high end boutique. It is barely 3 meters wide, and there doesn't seem to be any seating inside, and it only has a small creaky looking bench placed by the service window. Nanoka narrows her eyes. _I swear that used to be just an alleyway…_ She shivers and huddles closer to her boyfriend.

"I don't know, Tobio-kun, but that place is giving me the heebie jeebies." Tobio raises an eyebrow at her.

"It's just a shop. It can't hurt you." Tobio grabs her hand and starts walking towards the shop. "Let's see what they have." Nanoka squeaks and digs the balls of her feet into the ground, but the cement floor gives her no purchase and they easily end up in front of the store. The brunette whimpers when Tobio knocks on the glass. "Hello? Anyone in there!" Nanoka hisses.

"There's no one in! Let's just go!" Just as she is about to bodily drag the taller boy away, the glass service window rattles open. An old caucasian man who looks suspiciously like that wizard character from Lord of the Rings pops his head out.

"How can I help you?" He asks in a gravely voice with surprisingly fluent Japanese. Nanoka swallows thickly and robotically turns to Tobio, prompting him to answer the old man instead of gaping at his first encounter with a foreigner.

"Oh, uh, we wanted to know if you sell any stuff." Nanoka jabs his side sharply with her elbow. "Erk, I mean, you are a store, right?" Nanoka sighs into her free hand. _Why do I even try…_ Thankfully the gaijin is amicable and laughs off Tobio's rudeness.

"I am a store all right. I sell...drinks, you can say." Tobio cocks his head to the side with a blank expression.

"Drinks?" He echoes. The old man nods sagely. Nanoka pretends to gag.

"I sell teas made of herbal remedies. I have cures for muscle aches, cramps," The old man leans in conspiratory, giving an exaggerated wink. "And for the bedroom." Nanoka shudders in disgust, but Tobio just quirks his eyebrows.

"Bedroom? What do you mean?" The old man blinks at Tobio before guffawing.

"You probably won't have to worry about it yet." _This guy is obviously a pervert and probably sells drugs on the side. Bad news, Nanoka. Baad bad news. _Nanoka tugs on Tobio's hand, but he doesn't respond. He is enthralled but whatever bull that is coming out of the old man's mustached mouth.

"Do you have anything that isn't a remedy? Like a normal iced tea?" Nanoka's eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. _Is this guy really going to buy refreshments from him?! _Unnoticed to Nanoka, the old man gives her a contemplating glance before meeting Tobio's eyes.

"Sure we do. Just give me a minute." The moment the old man disappears to the back, Nanoka stomps on Tobio's foot. He yowls, bouncing on one foot and cradling his injured one.

"Ow! What was that for?" Tobio cries out, glaring at Nanoka with teary eyes.

"Why did you say that! This guy is obviously shady! Don't ask him for drinks!" Nanoka lectures. Tobio pouts while she glances around anxiously. "Let's just go while he's distracted-"

"Here you go." Right on cue, the old man returns with two paper cups with bendy straws sticking out. His smiles down at the teens. "On the house, since you guys are my first customers. The one with the pink straw is yours, lady." Nanoka gives a frozen smile, while Tobio's is more enthusiastic.

"T-thank you."

"Azzasu!" Totally ignoring Nanoka's previous warning, Tobio immediately slurps up half of his cup in one go. He smacks his lips before looking up at the man. "This is pretty sweet, what is it?" The old man strokes his beard, nodding.

"Chrysanthemum tea with some honey." Tobio turns to Nanoka, pointing at her own cup.

"It's good, you should try it."

Way to put her on the spot. Glancing at the old man and seeing that he is watching attentively, Nanoka sighs. She mutters an 'itadakimasu' before taking a tentative sip. The slight taste of nectar and the aroma of the chrysanthemum flower wash over her and she releases a long held sigh. She flutters open her eyes that she did not realize she closed.

"Wow, that was delicious. I've never tasted anything like it." The old man's grin widens.

"Thank you, it means everything to me when a customer is satisfied." Nanoka returns to sipping at the drink when she notices a cute blouse on display at the boutique next door. Tobio is busy talking with the old man anyway, so Nanoka drifts over to see it closer. When Nanoka is out of earshot, the old man waves Tobio closer.

"Young man, that lady's drink is extra special." He says. Tobio furrows his eyebrows in confusion. _What?_ The bearded man raises a small jar to his eye level and shakes it lightly. "I felt the dissonance in your relationship. You guys are on completely different wavelengths. I did you a favor and gave her something to help with that." At those words, Tobio's danger radar _finally_ starts to ring the alarm bell. _He spiked Nanoka's drink!_ At his murderous expression, the old man shrugs. "Don't worry, it's just a love potion. She'll become infatuated with the first person she sees. It should start working-" They hear a thud and a splash, and Tobio gasps when he sees Nanoka on her hands and knees, in a puddle of her drink, her empty paper cup rolling on the floor. "-now. Right on cue. You should go see if she's okay before someone else does." Before he could finish the sentence, Tobio is already at his girlfriend's side, helping her sit up, face pinched with worry.

"Nanoka!"

"Ughh, don't yell by my ear." Nanoka groans. She squints her eyes shut and holds her forehead. "What just happened? I just blacked out for some reason…" Nanoka slowly raises her head, but Tobio suddenly places his hands on her eyes, covering them. "Tobio-kun?! What are you doing?" Tobio sweats nervously. The old man said she'll fall in love with the first person she sees, and Tobio really shouldn't have anything to worry about because Nanoka already loves him, but... just in case, Nanoka didn't really love him…

He doesn't want to know. He's too scared to find out.

"Sunlight!" Tobio says, conjuring up an excuse. "The sunlight made you dizzy, obviously." Nanoka's visible mouth curls into a grimace.

"That's a crappy excuse, now let go-" Tobio quickly yanks off his jersey and wraps it around Nanoka, making sure to obscure her face. "I can't see-"

"You should sit just in case you fall again!" Tobio drags the stumbling girl to the bench of the mystery shop. The old man from before is nowhere to be seen. "There. Just...relax?" Tobio end the sentence weakly. Nanoka harrumphs.

"This is so stupid Tobio-kun! What has gotten into you?" Nanoka moves to pull down the jersey, but Tobio grabs her hands. She freezes. "...Tobio-kun?" The boy doesn't let go of her hands, and instead, holds onto them tighter.

"Nanoka, I-"

"Whaaaat, who do we have here, Iwa-chan? Is it possibly Nana-chan and Tobio-chan on a date?!" Tobio turns and freezes, eyes wide. _Oh god. _Before him stands Oikawa and Iwaizumi, the former looking like a chesire cat with his sneer. Iwaizumi looks tired and annoyed as always.

"What do you mean possibly, they are obviously on a date that _you_ are currently intruding on." Iwaizumi retorts. Ignoring his childhood friend, Oikawa sits right next to Nanoka and pokes her repeatedly.

"Nana-chan, Nana-chan, why do you look so weird? Are you trying to impress Tobi-chan like that? Because I'm telling you right now, it won't work." He advises in a cutesy voice. Nanoka yanks the jersey down to give Oikawa a verbal beating, but Tobio yells out and pulls Nanoka's head into his chest, managing to shield her vision. Oikawa raises his hands to his mouth.

"T-Tobio-chan! I didn't know you were so aggressive with Nana-chan! Daddy is ashamed!" Tobio stutters.

"I-It's not like that!" Nanoka growls into his chest, struggling against his toned arms and abs.

"What do you mean 'it's not like that'?!" Tobio frantically starts to knock on the store window.

"Oji-san! Oji-san, please come out!" Oikawa and Nanoka both raise their voice at the same time.

"Tobio-chan-"

"Oikawa-"

"-Let go of me-"

"-Nana-chan!"

"Stupid-"

"_Enough_!" Everyone freezes at Iwaizumi's outburst. While they are distracted, the tanned boy grabs Nanoka and pulls her up to stand beside him. Tobio moves to interfere, but Iwaizumi's glare immediately makes him cower. "You guys are causing a ruckus. Are you alright, Arakita?" Iwaizumi asks. Nanoka rubs at her arms before looking up.

"I'm alright-" Whoa.

Whoa, whoa, _whoa._

Was...was Iwaizumi always this...attractive? Starry eyed, Nanoka quickly looks down and starts fingering her bangs shyly. She lets her eyes follow his calfs, thick thighs(muscles, Nanoka! Muscles!), impeccablely styled shorts and top, super duper toned arms, nice collarbone, strong jaws, beautifully wide nose, deep eyes to his strong eyebrows… Nanoka nearly melts against Iwaizumi and he stumbles with the sudden weight. She places the back of her palm against her forehead.

"I'm fine." She turns and wraps her arms around his neck. "You're pretty fine too, Hajime." Oikawa and Iwaizumi gape, and Nanoka coyly flutters her lashes. "I can call you Hajime, right?" Hajime opens and closes his mouth, not knowing what to say. Nanoka starts tracing circles on Iwaizumi's chest. "Hajime?" The noise that comes out of Iwaizumi's mouth sounds like a mix between a gurgle and a whine.

Tobio gets up, unable to watch any further. "Nanoka, get away from him! You're being too close!" He commands.

Nanoka ignores him. Oikawa finally snaps out of it.

"Whoa, what's going on?! Why is Nana-chan all over Iwa-chan? Did she go blind?!" This insult slaps Iwaizumi in the face and he regains at least enough composure to peel Nanoka off of him. He glares down at the blushing girl.

"What is wrong with you?! Are you sick?" Nanoka touches her chest.

"Sick...yes! I am sick!" Nanoka exclaims. She then proceeds to launch herself back into Iwaizumi's not open arms. "Love sick for you, Hajime!"

"Urk!" Oikawa starts laughs hysterically at the red faced Tobio.

"Tobio-chan, I think you just got dumped!"

"No I didn't! She just drank a love potion! She'll snap out of it soon!" Tobio says, distraught.

"What do you mean love potion, damn it!" Iwaizumi does an awkward dance with Nanoka as he tries to keep her from attaching to him like a koala and Oikawa continues to laugh as Tobio also joins the fray in an attempt to catch his girlfriend.

Then, just like how it started, Nanoka collapses to the ground. Tobio and Iwaizumi both cry out in surprise but manage to catch her before her head hits the cement. Oikawa quickly sobers and vacates his seat so the boys can put Nanoka on the bench. A few seconds after being placed on her back, Nanoka comes to, groaning.

"Ugh, what happened?" At her words, the boys all look at each other. Oikawa grins and opens his mouth, but is immediately punched in the face by Iwaizumi. Tobio musters up the most serious expression he can make.

"Nothing happened. You just fell." Tobio says, seriously. Next to him, Iwaizumi nods gravely.

"Must have been heatstroke." If Nanoka is giving him the opportunity to forget this trauamtic event ever happened, he's going to take it. Oikawa makes an incomprehensible wheezing sound.

"Let's get you home." Tobio helps Nanoka up and starts guiding her away from their senpais. When they disappear, Oikawa leans over to Iwaizumi.

"What just happened?" Iwaizumi keeps a straight face and looks away.

"Nothing." Oikawa whines.

"Eehh? You're really going to pretend nothing happened?! Nanoka was totallyMBLEHH!" Iwaizumi has stuck his thumbs in Oikawa's mouth and stretches his lips. He pulls at Iwaizumi's hands, but to no avail. "Iwa-sha, weggo ob me! I'll berome ufly!"

"Shut your trap."

"Iwa-cha! Pleash!" As Iwaizumi starts to drag the setter away, he looks back and narrows his eyes.

_Wasn't there a store there? _He stares harder at the alleyway but couldn't recall any sharp memories of a store being there, so he shrugs and leaves it be.

_Whatever._

-.-.-

Wow. That is over 2000 words. Unintentional, I promise. I just get really invested in AUs and stuff. If it's always this long, I might just make a side story where I'll put all the AUs and prompts to make the story less confusing if people start accidentally mixing them up.

On an unrelated note, I put up a new poll! This time you can only vote for one character, and the available characters are only the ones that are currently active in Nanoka's life: Iwaizumi, Oikawa, Tobio, and Chiharu. I'll add Mami to the list if anyone requests it.

Aaand that's it. I think. I probably won't touch this story until after Christmas because of my upcoming finals. Afterwards, I'll be in Japan for three weeks to visit family. Just a precaution. For anyone with finals, good luck!

Lots of love,

donut


	9. Blood!

_When someone tell you that you hurt them, you don't get to decide that you didn't._ -Louis C. K.

_-.-.-_

_Last Chapter Recap:_

Nanoka attends one of Tobio's practice matches, where due to lack of focus, Oikawa is swapped out. When Nanoka tries to comfort the 3rd year, Tobio becomes jealous and lashes out. At the end of her line, Nanoka attempts to leave the match early, ignoring the fact that Umiyoko High School is 4 hours away from Karasuno by local transport. Can Iwaizumi stop her in time? And where the hell is Tobio?!

-.-.-

_I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, _

Nanoka repeats the mantra in her head, furiously trying to wipe the tears away with her bare hands, but not getting very far with the limited absorbency that human skin provides. She shuffles back to the side of the gym where she left her belongings and hastily tries to zip her bag up, but the cheap zipper jams at her inconsistent jerky movements. Nanoka lets out a cry of frustrations and throws her bag onto the ground, the contents spilling out onto the cement. She follows and bag and slides to the ground, her legs awkwardly folded underneath her. The outdoor hallway is silent except for her ragged breathing. The volleyball teams and company have moved to the cafeteria for lunch, so no one was around to witness her tantrum. Nanoka hears the scuffles of sneakers approaching, but does not look up.

"Mami-san," Nanoka breaths. "I know you mean well, but please just give me a moment." 'Mami''s feet come to a stop beside Nanoka. The black haired girl glances to the side, and finds it strange that Mami is wearing shorts, and has leg hair. _Wasn't she wearing sweats-_

"Weren't you acting overdramatic?"

At the masculine voice, Nanoka freezes, and then starts to splutter at the boy's question. _Overdramatic?! _Nanoka uses her left hand to chop at Iwaizumi's feet and he squawks in indignation.

"Ow! Damn it, stop!" Iwaizumi growls. Nanoka ignores him and continues her onslaught.

"I, am, not, over, dra-ma-tic!" Nanoka emphasizes each syllable with a hit to his legs. Iwaizumi quickly raises the white flag and bounces out of her reach. "I'm not,"

"Okay, okay, geez," Iwaizumi appeases with an eyeroll. "You're not overdramatic, I'm sorry." When Nanoka's shoulders start to quiver again, Iwaizumi moves back to her side and squats next to her, hand hovering over her back. He tentatively touches her shoulder before gripping it. "I'm sorry, don't cry." He apologizes abashedly.

"I'm not being overdramatic." Nanoka grumbles. "I was really hurt." Iwaizumi, starting to realize that what he said was rather insensitive, nods.

"Uh, I didn't mean to in, invalue your feelings." Iwaizumi murmurs. Nanoka offers a miniscule nod, her face still covered by her hair.

"I know."

She pauses, then peeks at him through her hair. "I also think you meant invalidate." Iwaizumi immediately flushes and jams his hands in his pockets, trying to look nonchalant.

"I knew that." Iwaizumi huffs and gets up, brushing off dirt from his knee guards. "Come on, let's go get lunch." Nanoka takes the offered hand and hoists herself up. Her legs are red from being pressed against the uneven cement, and Nanoka bends over to pick at the gravel that has dug into her flesh. When she straightens herself, Iwaizumi is staring at the gym entrance with rapt attention. Nanoka follows his gaze but sees nothing out of the ordinary.

"Iwaizumi-san?" The boy narrows his eyes, but eventually turns away to shrug at the black haired girl.

"I thought I heard someone in there." Nanoka strains her ears, but hears nothing but the leaves rustling in the early spring breeze and the muted chatter of teenagers in the cafeteria down the hall.

"...I don't hear anyone." Her gut clenches, as if her muscles are tensing for a nonexistent flight or fight scenario, but she ignores it.

"Yeah. Let's go." Iwaizumi walks to the cafeteria with Nanoka trailing after him, hoping her emotional turmoil hasn't puffed her eyes or reddened her face. There is no window to check her reflection in so she just wings it. Thankfully no one seems to notice for no one brings it up, but it can just be because of the death glare Iwaizumi sends to every single occupant in the room behind Nanoka's back. Iwaizumi and Nanoka gravitate towards Mami, who is sitting by Yasui and a few other second years, munching on the last of their lunches. She deflates with disappointment after the initially perking up at the sight of them when she notices that Tobio is not with them.

"I'm sorry Iwaizumi-kun, I couldn't find Kageyama-kun when I went back. I assumed he came here but," Mami indicates at her Tobio-less surroundings and sighs. Iwaizumi pats her shoulder with his calloused hands.

"S'not your fault." He reassures grumpily.

"Did you see Captain on the way here?" Yasui asks with his mouth full of rice. Iwaizumi frowns and Nanoka slowly shakes her head. Now that he mentions it, the third year isn't in the cafeteria with everyone else. Huh. Nanoka's innards suddenly squirms uncomfortably and she grimaces. _Did I eat something wrong? _Another Kitagawa Daiichi volleyball member pipes up from behind Iwaizumi, his empty tray in hand to return to the kiosk to be collected.

"Captain said he's going to practice in the gym, and that we don't have to wait for him." The boy apologizes. "Sorry senpai, I thought he already told you." Iwaizumi's face is pinched in concentration, and suddenly he snaps his head up, eyes wide in realization of something horrible.

"Shit!" He bursts out of the cafeteria in record speed, sprinting towards the gym, leaving his teammates and Nanoka in his dust. Before Nanoka can even consider chasing after him, her stomach tightens painfully and she curls into herself, groaning. _Bad timing! Bad!_

"Iwaizumi-kun-Nanoka-san?!" Mami whips her head back and forth between Iwaizumi's exit and Nanoka's tiny form, obviously struggling to decide which matter takes priority. She convinces herself to deal with the problem at hand first and hastily grabs Nanoka's upper arm. "Nanoka-san, I'm taking you to the infirmary," She states firmly, leaving no room for argument. Thankfully Nanoka's previously expressed stubbornness has flown away somewhere and the pained brunette moves along to Mami's urgent tugging. Since it is a weekend, Umiyoko's official school nurse is off duty and therefore not present, so Mami quietly excuses herself and rummages through the cabinets for a hot water bottle to help relax Nanoka's abdomen muscles. Nanoka waddles to the closest bed and toes off her shoes. Feeling uncomfortable with the silence, Mami tries to fill it with small talk.

"Do you feel better now Nanoka-san?" Nanoka gives the manager a questioning look that looks more like a frown due to half of her face scrunched up in pain (she looks a little bit like a pirate, Mami thinks).

"Huh?" Nanoka and Mami stare at each other before Nanoka blinks in realization. Mami meant emotionally, not about her stomachache. "Oh. I...I guess."

"Are you still going home by train?" The manager teases. Nanoka blushes and drops onto the infirmary cot to hide her face in shame.

"I'm sorry," Nanoka whimpers. "I was stupid." Mami hums, not agreeing with the statement but not disagreeing either. Mami is good at listening and not taking sides. She grew up with four brothers after all. She successfully finds the hot water bottle and relocates to the sink. Nanoka shuffles to the edge of the bed so Mami remains in view. "Where do you think Tobio-kun is since he wasn't in the cafeteria?" Nanoka inquires curiously. This must have been his first time in this school, so she can't imagine where Tobio would go by himself.

"Maybe to the gym to practice. Kageyama-kun's brain is 99% volleyball afterall." Mami snorts. Nanoka smiles tiredly, accepting the now full heating pad gratefully.

"You got that right." Nanoka applies the bottle against her abdomen and sighs. Mami washes her hands and dries them on her sweatpants.

"I'm going to go check on the boys now. You'll be okay by yourself here?" Nanoka waves her hand lethargically from her curled position on the cot.

"Thanks for everything." Nanoka mumbles. When she hears the door shut and Mami's footsteps pitter patter away, she wiggles her socked feet closer to her buttocks to hug the bottle tighter to her abdomen. That stomachache came out of nowhere. She doesn't remember eating anything out of the ordinary that morning, and finds that blaming that last stressful few hours for her sudden ailment easier than wondering if there is a larger underlying cause. Just as she is getting comfortable, the door is yanked open violently. Nanoka instinctively jolts up into a seating position, her mother's teaching drilled into her to not be seen laying around around strangers, for it is unseemly for a young girl like her. She hears the muffled voices of Iwaizumi and Oikawa and sags in relief. She opens the curtains to her cot and-

"Oh my god! Oikawa-senpai, your nose!" She gapes at Oikawa, and when she turns to Iwaizumi, her eyes widen even further. "Your forehead!" She exclaims. The two boys boggle at her, having obviously not expected her to be there.

"Nana-chan? What are you doing here?" Oikawa asks, confused, but also rather funnily for Iwaizumi is keeping his face up toward the ceiling and his voice is nasally from the blood clogged nostrils. Nanoka kicks off her thin, standard baby blue blanket and grabs the tissue box next to her cot.

"What happened? Did you guys fight?" The girl offers the tissue box and Iwaizumi grabs a few and starts twisting the ends. Oikawa immediately senses what's coming and tries to fight off Iwaizumi, but since he can't see what's in directly front of him due to his tilted angle, the childhood friend easily swats the setter's hands away and stuffs the tissues up Oikawa's nose with a growl. All Oikawa can do is whimper when Iwaizumi shoves them up a little too far. Now that his task is done, the team Ace turns his beady eyes to the human huddled on the bed.

"What happened to _you_?" Iwaizumi grills her without mercy. "You were just in the cafeteria with Mami a few minutes ago." Nanoka flushes, clutching her hot water bottle to her chest. Nanoka mutters a reply weakly.

"I had a tummy ache." Oikawa giggles. Nasally.

"_Tummy _ache, she says." Oikawa mimics. Iwaizumi slaps him arm sharply. "Ow."

"You should get an ice pack for that." Nanoka points at Iwaizumi's reddening forehead. The boy slaps his hand onto the spot to shield his glowing bruise from the girl's inquisitive gaze.

"It's not that bad." He grunts. Oikawa simpers, poking at Iwaizumi's chest.

"I don't know Iwa-chan, I have a pretty hard head." Nanoka raises her eyebrow an Oikawa's slightly delirious behavior before it clicks. Oikawa's bloody nose, Iwaizumi's bruised forehead. She turns to gawk at latter, who is avoiding eye contact.

"You headbutted him?!" She splutters. "Why?!" Iwaizumi groans.

"None of your business!" Taken aback at the harsh tone, Nanoka jolts away from him with a sharp frown. Oikawa purses his lips at her and shakes Iwaizumi's shoulder, trying to get his attention.

"He didn't mean it like that Nana-chan, he's just tired." Finding the ice packs in the back of the fridge, Iwaizumi returns to the group and sits next to Nanoka, nudging her lightly to make room. Oikawa climbs onto the bed across from them, one hand on his nose to keep the tissues from falling out, and Nanoka can't help but breath out a laugh at how ridiculous he looks.

Nanoka knows that Oikawa isn't the charming ladies' man that his school image is composed of. Oikawa is a dorky, narcissistic, insecure boy that hides behind strangers to protect himself from his childhood friend's wrath because he ate his last pudding. He has mediocre grades at best, but is currently trying to grind since he wants to get into a prestigious school with a renown volleyball team. But the first impression is strong, so when Oikawa does something that breaks the mold his acquaintances have created of him, Nanoka feels surprised. She also feels ashamed at her surprise, because she didn't even know Oikawa that well, so why was she being startled by his actions? She won't appreciate it if someone judged her for not being the person someone thought she was. Her mind wanders to Tobio, and his grumpiness when something doesn't go his way. Like last week! Tobio wanted to buy a volleyball magazine but was a few hundred yen short and he asked Nanoka for some change, but she already paid for their food for their first date that he hasn't paid back for yet, and she buys him his yogurt drink periodically, so she told him no. He pulls the biggest pout she has ever seen him make and he wears it for the entire walk to his bus station. It was funny, but also childish of him. She's not _that_ much of a pushover, thank you very much.

Oikawa picks at his nose, bringing Nanoka's attention to it. Nanoka's never done sports, and is never interested, so she hardly got hurt except for the rare playground scuffle when she was a toddler. She's never broken a bone, or even had a bloody nose.

"Does it hurt?" Nanoka asks. Oikawa looks up from his phone and shakes his head.

"It only hurt when Iwa-chan hit me. Now it's just itchy."

"Huh," The long haired girl turns to Iwaizumi, who once again is avoiding eye contact. "Does yours hurt?" The ace grunts, scratching at his dry elbows.

"Not at all." Rolling her eyes, Nanoka uses his lack of focus to poke his forehead. Iwaizumi lets out a silent scream and rolls away from her, cradling his forehead. Oikawa bursts out laughing, accidentally snorting out his bloody tissues, grossing out Nanoka from across him.

"Ew, Oikawa-senpai!"

"Arakita what the fuck!" When Nanoka gets up to scooch away from the bloody tissues on the floor, Oikawa shrieks, causing his nose to drip a stream blood again from the pressure.

"Nana-chan you're bleeding!" Nanoka boggles at him, immediately inspecting her arms and legs but sees no external wounds.

"No I'm not?!" Iwaizumi grips her arm as if to steady her. His tan face is pale as he stares at her lap.

"No, Arakita, you _are_ bleeding!" He points out. There is a smear of dark blood on her skirt, and when Nanoka moved to the side, there is a trail of blood on the white sheets that followed her. Nanoka pales, holding her stomach.

"I'm bleeding!" She shrills, and Oikawa joins the fray, screaming louder than before.

"You're bleeding! Iwa-chan do something!" Put on the spot, Iwaizumi sweats and looks around in panic.

"Uh, uh, uhh?!"

"What's going on here?!" Like saviors on a white horse, Mami and the coach waltz into the infirmary, most likely drawn by the screaming (mostly Oikawa's). They are greeting by Iwaizumi and Oikawa trashing the cabinets and running around like headless chickens. Oikawa turns to Iwaizumi, expecting him to explain to the adult and manager, but all Iwaizumi does is open and close his mouth and swallow dryly. Oikawa whimpers, unable to string words together and make a coherent sentence for a good few sentences.

"Nana-chan's dying." He croak out. The Mami opens her mouth, nonplussed by the answer, and then she sees the blood on Nanoka and makes a high keening noise.

"Oh my goooood," Mami moves to Nanoka's side (she's sobbing in her hands at this point). "This is why you had a stomachache." Mami exclaims.

"Internal bleeding?" Oikawa squeaks. The coach easily takes in the situation and thumps his fist into his palm.

"Oh, she got her period." The middle aged man proclaims. Oikawa and Iwaizumi stop hoarding the gauze and cotton balls from the glass window cabinet to stare at the adult.

"Period?" Mami shoves them to the side to grab the sanitary napkins on the shelf.

"Period." She repeats. "Get out, I'm going to help Nanoka-san cleanup."

"She's not dying?" Oikawa whispers. Their coach rolls his eyes and puts his large hands on Oikawa and Iwaizumi's shoulders and steers them out of the infirmary.

"She's not dying. Now go back to the gym, the next match is about to start."

The white doors close behind them, and Nanoka wipes her tears. First the 5AM wake up call, her fight with Tobio, and now this.

"I'm tired." She moans, defeated. Mami shuts the curtains behind her and passes her some damp towels.

"I'd be tired if I were you too. Take off your skirt, we need to clean that before it stains."

"Okay."

-.-.-

Oikawa, Iwaizumi, Tobio, and Nanoka reunite in the bus. This time, both Oikawa and Iwaizumi are avoiding her eye contact, and Nanoka gladly reciprocates the motion. Tobio is tense and sweating a waterfall but lets out a sigh of relief when Nanoka sits next to him, but he ends up pouting viciously when Nanoka refuses to talk to him and curls towards the window with the hood of her borrowed jacket up. Mami thankfully carries extra jerseys for emergencies, and they forced the smallest spare pants to fit her by pulling the strings to the max and rolling the hems. It looks awkward, but a whole lot better than a blood stained skirt.

Nanoka is dead tired and just wants to crawl into her bed and call Chiharu and complain about the woes of being a girl.

-.-.-

**A/N: **

Hooray, an update! I'm taking three science intensives this semester so I wanted to get this out before I end up chest deep in organic chemistry and molecular biology. The struggles of getting into veterinary school…

Happy Lunar Year to anyone who celebrates! Consider this my red envelope to you all haha

**Poll Update:**

Iwaizumi has 19 votes, Oikawa has 6, and poor Kageyama only has 1 along with Chiharu.

**Prompt Oneshot:**

•_If you're ok with it I'd like to suggest a sort of bittersweet prompt since the two omakes have been mostly fluff. It's where after years of not having seen each other after their break up they meet during one of Karasuno's games (with Aoba Josai please xD) and somehow ended up talking about what might have been, what is, and what will be. It'd also be cool if the Karasuno team together with Yachi were eavesdropping on them just for a bit of hilarity._ (Le Nyag)

•_I can't help but imagine what will happen if she break up with him and go out with Oikawa in high school, the meeting with the three of them plus the karasuno's team would be so tense. Could you write a one shot of this?_ (Meilinfan)

-.-.-

Tobio used to think about Nanoka a lot.

It's been 3 years since they last spoke to each other. She doesn't answer his calls(she helped him buy the cell phone), reply to his texts (she taught him how to do that), and their mutual friends give him the cold shoulder (they're not _his_ friends anymore). He eats his store bought curry bread (he misses her bento) and fails half of his classes (he really needs help).

She has integrated herself so deep into his life, that when she pulled away, she leaves an imprint of her shape that he cannot smooth out or fill. It's like a curry without an egg on top. It's frustrating and ugly and tastes bland.

Tobio tries to fill the gaps with volleyball. So so _so_ much volleyball, that he overflows with it, and only notices that he's drowning when his teammates (not friends) are staring at him from above the surface.

He loses his breath and sinks to the bottom.

It is afterwards that he starts thinking about Nanoka. What is she doing? Where is she? Does she still like those little cakes? Is she still mad at him? He didn't mean to make her so upset. He meant to apologize, but it just slipped his mind.

He reaches out to Kindaichi and Kunimi to ask if they know which high school she is attending (he forgot to ask when she graduated), but they flee on sight. So Tobio has to deal with the uncertainty of not knowing.

Tobio hates not knowing.

In his haze, Tobio barely scrapes by the high school entrance exams and makes it to Karasuno and a few low tier schools. He was aiming for Aoba Jousai, but his low grades have come back to haunt him.

He then meets Hinata and the Karasuno volleyball team, and his vision clears.

Tobio has gotten a new phone that Suga teaches him how to use, and his new cafeteria provides bento style meals that taste pretty good. They're not a well oiled machine yet, but Tobio has actually learned from his mistakes and is trying to work with his new teammates (friends). Life is looking up little by little.

Maybe that's why he was too optimistic. Too hopeful and naive and forgetful that _people change_.

Tobio sees Nanoka for the first time in three years on the courts of Aoba Jousai.

Oikawa has finally arrived to participate in the practice match, and a figure in a hoodie follows him into the gym. He is focused on Oikawa, but something about the person behind him rings alarm bells in the back of his head. No, focus, Tobio. Focus on the game.

The practice match ends with a close call, and everyone is shaking hands. Tobio finally lets his gaze wander to the benches and his eyes widen because-

Nanoka is right there in front of him.

Her hair is longer and she's gained a little bit of weight, but she still has her sharp eyes and long lower lashes and weird grimace and funny bangs and-

"Kageyama!"

Sawamura grabs his first year's arm before he walks away too far. Tobio snaps out of his daze and looks at Sawamura as if _he_ was the one who was acting out of line. Sawamura drags the boy back into the huddle, smiling reassuringly at the opposing team. The team captain looks especially cautious, his brown eyes narrowed in warning. Sawamura can smell something fishy going on.

"What are you doing?" Sawamura hisses. Tobio hesitates, his eyes keep glancing at the girl by the bleachers (she doesn't see him she doesn't see him _she doesn't see him_). His captain shakes his head. "Wait until after the formalities are done." Tobio is literally jittering in his seat as their teachers and coaches exchange shakes and polite words. He doesn't notice Oikawa and Iwaizumi whisper to each other, and Iwaizumi slip away from the line and approach the girls on the bleachers. Tobio only notices when Iwaizumi and the girls are halfway out of the gym, and his mouth goes dry. He lets out a keen whine, and Hinata gives him a bewildered glance.

"Does your stomach hurt, Kageyama?" Hinata asks. Tobio watches the figures disappear outside, and grit his teeth, shaking his head.

"No."

She was so so _so_ close.

Feeling gloomy and ostracized by the cheer his teammates exuded from their win, Tobio walks behind the pack. They board their bus and put away their bags. Hinata is already nodding away against the window next to him, and Tobio moves to shift Hinata's sweater so he is more comfortable.

Nanoka's grey eyes meet his. His breath hitches and he accidentally tightens his hold on Hinata, choking him. She is standing by the gate with Iwaizumi and his old manager, Mami. They are talking to Nanoka (he can't hear), but she is staring at him, unrelenting, unfeeling, unforgiving.

"K-Kageyama, let go-"

Oikawa approaches them from the back and throws his arm around her shoulder. The brunet glances at Tobio, but offers nothing else, and starts to guide Nanoka back into the school with his signature enthusiasm. Nanoka doesn't fight it.

"Ka-Ka-Kageh-"

The bus jerks into movement, and Tobio's grip on Hinata's jersey slips. Hinata inflates his deprived lungs with a gasp. He turns to yell at Tobio, but his words die in throat because something is wrong with the setter.

He looks sad.

Well, as sad as Tobio's face can express. But it is strange to see an emotion other than anger on Tobio's face, and Hinata furrows his eyebrows. Maybe he missed his old teammates? Trying to cheer him up, the ball of sunshine punches Tobio's shoulder.

"Hey, you have me!" He chirps. Tobio blinks out of his stupor, and scoffs. Offended, Hinata cries out and their routine squabble starts again. After Hinata finally conks out on his shoulder (he appreciates him, he really does), Tobio relaxes, staring out at the darkening sky.

The colors change from blue, to pink, to purple.

Tobio thinks about Nanoka a lot.

-.-.-

Angst is difficult to write, but pretty fun. I stumbled through this, but hopefully practice makes perfect. Feel free to throw some angst prompts at me, I want to hear what you want to cry about.

Lots of love,

donut


	10. Hand in Hand

_UNEDITED _

The lunch bell chimes loudly overhead, and the students quickly put away their books to make way for lunch. Some students are already running out of the door in order to be in the front of the lunch line. Chiharu and Nanoka press their desks together to form a table, and Nanoka daintily unwraps her bunny patterned bento box. Chiharu is not so gracious, and throws her heart shaped bento box onto the table precariously.

"What's it like, having your period?" Chiharu asks. Being much more petite than Nanoka, her menstrual cycle most likely will not start until she has gained a few more kilograms. Nanoka flushes at the question and looks around nervously, afraid someone (or worse, a boy!) will overhear.

"Uncomfortable." She grumbles. She opens her bento and sighs happily at the sight of octopus shaped sausages and bonito flake omelettes. Not finished with her interrogation, Chiharu continues.

"Is it true that it's an endless waterfall of blood?" Nanoka grimaces. What a nice imagery. She takes out her bento-matching chopsticks and is about to take a bite. "You're not waiting for Kageyama-kun?" Nanoka's hands freeze for a second before resuming their voyage to her mouth. Mmm, bonito flakes.

"No." Nanoka chews. "And no to that too." Chiharu breaks out into her signature cheshire grin.

"Did you guys fight?" She questions excitedly. Nanoka glares at her.

"You shouldn't be so happy that your best friend fought with her boyfriend." Chiharu ignores her.

"Are you guys breaking up?" Nanoka huffs, angling her body away from her to indicate that this conversation has finished.

"No, Haru, eat your lunch." Haru pouts, but opens her own bento box ("Ew, mom put tomatoes"). Nanoka ignores the third person that arrives at their table, dragging a nearby seat.

"Where's my lunch?" Tobio asks, in his confused-puppy voice. Chiharu singsongs, gleeful at the opportunity to one-up the first year setter.

"You don't get one." Tobio blinks. He turns to Nanoka, who is facing the opposite direction.

"I don't get one?"

"You don't get one." Nanoka parrots. Chiharu's cheeks puff out in an effort to smother down her laughter.

"Is it because I caught you flirting with Oikawa-senpai?" Tobio queries. Chiharu's amusement immediately disappears and she gasps at the scandalous news and Nanoka turns to glare at him. She finds satisfaction in his flinch.

"Don't make me make you eat somewhere else too." She growls, baring her teeth. Tobio nearly falls out of his chair running out of the classroom, racing to the bread shop a floor down. Chiharu jabs her chopsticks at Nanoka, flames in her eyes.

"You flirted with Oikawa-senpai behind my back!" Nanoka's frown deepens.

"You believe him?" Chiharu immediately deflates. Knowing Tobio, he definitely misunderstood a totally innocent situation. Like brushing shoulders, or exchanging hellos.

"No." Nanoka rolls her eyes, continuing her meal.

"Thank you." Not one to stay sullen for long, Chiharu perks back up in a few seconds with an unrelated conversation topic.

"How long are you not going to make him lunch? Two weeks?"

"Until he understands that I never cheated on him." Chiharu gasps.

"You cheated-"

"Haru."

"Just kidding, sorry."

-.-.-

"...why is Tobio glaring at his desk like that? What did that desk do to him?" Kunimi ignores Kindaichi's frantic whispering, quietly putting the books he needs to complete his homework assignments in his messenger bag.

"Don't know, don't care."

"But Kunimi!" Kindaichi whines.

"Nope."

Kindaichi helplessly follows Kunimi out the classroom, easily blending in with the loitering students around him. They pass by equally upset looking Nanoka in the hallway, who nods back at Kunimi and Kindaichi's greeting.

"Do you think they fought?" Kindaichi murmurs. Kumimi shakes off his hand from his shoulder.

"No, Arakita-senpai is going to pick up Kageyama for their walk home. Stop being such a gossip." Kindaichi gasps.

"I'm not being a gossip!" Kunimi ignores him. "I'm not!" Kunimi opens his shoe cabinet, Kindaichi temporarily detaching himself to find his own shoes. Kunimi is surprised that it took this long for Nanoka to finally snap at Tobio. He expected her to find some fault in his immature, borderline sociopathic behavior _weeks_ ago.

Maybe Nanoka is more in love with Tobio than he thought.

-.-.-

Tobio glowers at his desk as students weave around him like a school of sardines. It has grooves from his repetitive pencil scratching and half-erased doodles of volleyball formations on the side. His class president has given up telling him to stop vandalising school property.

Tobio doesn't understand why he's being punished when Nanoka was the one who got upset at him for no reason. He simply told her to stop flirting with Oikawa because _he_'s her boyfriend, not Oikawa. _BestBoyfriend4Ever_ (who has four thousand followers on his blog, so what he says must be pretty sound advice) says that it's always best to confront your girlfriend about how you feel about her flirting with other people. Nip bad habits in the bud. But instead of being remorseful, she got mad! Is it because she's older so she thinks that it's okay? Maybe she... wasn't cheating, and it was Oikawa who was flirting? But, she was the one that was touching him like that...all nice and...boyfriendly! Wait, that makes Oikawa the girlfriend, so she touched him girlfriendly? Either way he didn't like it! It made his chest hurt and focus waver when he should have been concentrating on the game, the same way Nanoka should have been concentrating on him. He hated that feeling, he wanted Nanoka to treat him like that too! _BestBoyfriend4Ever_ kissed his girlfriend on their second date! Tobio...Tobio got nothing!

"You better not be thinking about me with that kind of expression."

Tobio swings his head to the side, nearly cracking his neck. Nanoka glumly stares at him from the seat in front of his desk. He hasn't even noticed her sit. Her long black hair is in a messy bun today, exposing the curved slope of her neck. Tobio frowns, looking away.

"...no." He mutters. Nanoka huffs, reaching over to pinch his cheek. Tobio yelps at the painful squeeze.

"You're such a bad liar." His ears burn in embarrassment and Tobio finds it more difficult to meet her eye. Is this why Nanoka doesn't respect him? Because he lets her pick on him? But he...he likes it when she does that. He doesn't have friends who are close enough to feel comfortable teasing him, so it makes him feel special. Every spot she touches is warm and tingly afterwards, and it makes him a little giddy each time. Ignorant to Tobio's inner turmoil, Nanoka lets go of his cheek and rises to her feet. "Let's go Tobio-kun." Go? Go where? Tobio thought they were fighting!

At Tobio's quizzical look, she raises a dark eyebrow. "I'm walking you home? Like always?" When the words sink in, Tobio jumps up, startling her.

"You are?!" Nanoka blinks up at him, bewildered at his behavior.

"Yes. Did you not want me to?" Time finally catches up to Tobio and he notices the empty classroom, his desk still cluttered with school supplies, Nanoka staring at him impatiently. Tobio gulps, his throat suddenly dry.

"O-okay." Nanoka gets up, pats her skirt, and walks out of the classroom without a word. Tobio hastily stuffs his books and pens in his desk and grabs him school and gym bag. Today is a holiday (Tobio forgot which one), so there is no practice. Tobio has planned on advancing their relationship today with the helpful advice by _BestBoyfriend4Ever_, but he wasn't sure if it will work since they just fought, but Nanoka doesn't seem to be very upset with him. Maybe the plan will still work!

Tobio catches up to Nanoka at the shoe boxes, where she is checking her phone, frowning. Maybe her horoscope isn't good today, he thinks. He throws his worn out sneakers onto the ground and shoves his feet into it. Nanoka snaps her phone shut and stuffs it in her skirt pocket at the sound of him rustling. She waits until he is by her side to start walking.

"Do you have everything you need for your homework?" Nanoka asks out of habitual mothering. Tobio adjusts his messenger bag higher onto his shoulder.

"Yeah."

"Good." The conversation dies there, and Tobio is too socially inept to kickstart it and Nanoka has no desire to converse further. Tobio notices Nanoka's hands swaying with the undulation of her hips as she walks. Nanoka's thighs and forearms have gotten thicker, Tobio notes. Not with firm muscles from hard work like his teammates, but with fat. Perhaps Nanoka has gotten lazy after the disbandment of her club. Should he tell her? What if she continues gaining weight until she's fat? He doesn't want a fat girlfriend!

"Nanoka-"

"What will make you believe that I didn't cheat on you?" Nanoka interrupts. She is facing the road ahead of them, her back facing him. Her arms are taut with tension. Tobio's mind whirs at the abrupt change of topic. He bites his lower lip.

"Don't talk to Oikawa-senpai anymore." Tobio grumbles towards the ground. Unseen by him, Nanoka rolls her eyes. _Of course he'd say that. _She turns ninety degrees so she is half facing him.

"You know I can't do that Tobio-kun." She tells him in an exasperated voice. Tobio's glare at the ground intensifies. Nanoka has to strain her ears to hear his next demands.

"Don't touch him. Don't let him touch you either." Nanoka looks towards the sky, closes her eyes, and groans into her palms.

"Oh my god, Tobio-kun." Tobio sulks at the rejection of his proposal.

"I don't like it when you're around other guys." He grouses. Nanoka drags her hands down her face and lets them drop to her lap.

"Stop being unreasonable," She tells him. "You can't tell me not to hang out with my friends."

"You met them through me." Tobio grumbles pathetically, as if his reasoning made complete sense to him and Nanoka is the one acting like an insolent child. Nanoka hisses, finally facing him completely.

"Excuse me?!" Nanoka is about to say more, but makes a growling noise with her lips sealed tight. _Nanoka, stop it. You're just making it worse._

Nanoka knows. Nanoka knows that Tobio is just as insecure about this as she is, possibly more. He's always says things without thinking it through, so she should be more patient with him when he blurts something stupid. His social etiquette is also level negative zero... look at the way he asked her out! Tobio is also acting clingy because he doesn't have any friends, at least none that Nanoka know of, other than his two freshmen teammates, Kindaichi and Kunimi. More Kindaichi than Kunimi though, for the latter doesn't really seem to care for Tobio other than as an obligation.

"You're right. I met them through you." Nanoka starts, wringing her hands. She's trying to regurgitate the thoughts that have been swimming in her thoughts into proper, non-threatening sentences that Tobio won't react negatively to. She practiced this in the mirror a thousand times, she can do it. "But without me, you wouldn't be playing volleyball with your team." Before Tobio can argue with her, Nanoka quickly shoves at his chest, knocking him into the cement wall that surrounded a home. Tobio immediately forgets what he is about to say as he cradles the back of his head, definitely not letting out a high pitched whine. Nanoka swallows her apology, her mind telling her that her arguement willimmediately be nullified if she shows any weakness. Drip even a teaspoon of blood and the shark will descend upon her.

"If...If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have passed your last two exams. You know what that means?" Nanoka closes in on him and pokes at his chest. It is Tobio's first time seeing her face so close and he doesn't understand why, but his heart rate starts to increase. "You would have been kicked off your team." He can feel her breath on his neck, for Nanoka's mouth barely reaches his collar bone. He still remembers when he and Nanoka were at the same height. He now towers over her by more than 8cm. Her breath smelled faintly like those cheap mint gums that you can buy at a convenience store.

"I...what?" Tobio responds intelligently.

"If you want me to stop talking to Oikawa-senpai or any of your teammates, I'm going to stop tutoring you." The second year stabs him in the chest with her index finger one last time before retreating, letting Tobio breath normally for the first time in the last two minutes. He splutters, loosening the collar of his gakuran and trying to inconspicuously lower the temperature of his face. Nanoka crosses her arms and widens her stance into a power pose that she learned while watching a show on how to boost self confidence. She thinks that this conversation has gone very well. "Well? Do you still want me to not talk to Oikawa-senpai?" Tobio scrunches his face into an ugly grimace that Chiharu would have been proud of ("like mother hen and chick"). Tobio purses his lips, accentuating his sharp cupid's bow and furrows his narrow eyebrows into a pout that didn't quite fit his face.

"...no." Relief floods her and Nanoka lets out the breath she was unconsciously holding.

"Thank you."

Nanoka watches Tobio silently doing a temper tantrum in his head and suddenly realizes how awkward it is to try to recover from a resolved argument. Are they supposed to not acknowledge it until the next fight? Or do they have to bring it up every once in awhile to prevent the same conflict from happening again? Tobio is still stewing in his thoughts, and Nanoka starts to doubt herself. Was she too harsh? Did she say too much? Did she hurt his feelings? What if this becomes the last straw and they end up breaking up? Nanoka doesn't want to break up-they just started dating, and there's still so much to learn. Aren't fights supposed to make their relationship stronger because they're overcoming differences? Nanoka starts to wring her hands again-a nervous habit she seemed to have picked up from Yasui. She tries to not accidentally crack her knuckles, for her mother told her that cracking them will make them knobby and hideous, but there is something about the sound of gases between the joints escaping that sooths the fourteen year old.

Nanoka is jolted out of her thoughts when long fingers encompass her small, sweaty one. Her eyes follow the hand to the wrist to the elbow to the shoulder and to one Kageyama Tobio's blushing face. He refuses to make eye contact, a common theme when Tobio is embarrassed.

"Let's go home." He whispers. Tobio's quiet words seem to bring closure to the girl's spiraling negativity and Nanoka smiles back fondly. The black haired boy has a tendency to drive her crazy, but he is also the sturdy rock in the storm that she is drowning in. Tobio seems to have to most simple solutions to problems she moans over for days and is a constant presence that is easily traced when needed for his schedule is like clockwork. Nanoka is enveloped by warmth for the boy before her. She can tell he is nervous about this too, because his hands are getting sweatier by the second. She gives his hand a squeeze. She takes the first steps towards the train station, pulling Tobio off the cement wall and lightly dusting his bangs for residue.

"Let's go home." She agrees.

For the first time, Nanoka and Tobio keep their hands linked for the half kilometer walk to the train station that takes a starry eyed Tobio two stations past his stop.

-.-.-

**A/N:**

This chapter was helpful to write because it helped me figure out where these children are in their thoughts. Tobio is still in a dark slightly, but I'll work on that in the next chapter.

An anon review I got fro chapter nine had this at the end:

_*About the kareben, I can't help but feel it's kind of sexist. I mean, these girls wake up early and work hard to make them for their boyfriends. Do they get anything in return- as in a "girlfriend lunch"?_

Very very true! While Japan is advanced with wonderful technologies and food, they are still pretty backwards when it comes to gender equality (don't even get me started on gay and trans rights). In 2012, the gender wage gap was 21%, and it is even steeper for Japanese women with children because there is a stigma against them (should be at home taking care of their children instead of working, but it's a double edged sword because if they aren't working, how can they afford to take care of their children?). Japanese media still objectify women like there's no tomorrow, and anime takes that to a whole new level. Even Haikyuu! Isn't spared when it comes to being sexist. I forgot who it was and which chapter, but Kiyoko is harassed by a team during a tournament, and Hinata comes to 'save' her. The boys only give up when their manager shows up to herd them away. For some reason, _she_ is the one apologizing for the boy's sexual harassment to Kiyoko and Hinata, instead of the boys? That baffled me so much and made me slightly upset at Furudate for encouraging this weird 'boys will be boys' mentality, but I digress. (I also stopped reading Yowamushi pedal for a similar but worse situation. The _UNDERAGE _manager is visibly fondled by an opposing team member and instead of this boy getting kicked off the tournament, no one acknowledges it except the manager's team, where it only fuels them to defeat the opposite team? Where is logic?) Ahhhh I'm getting off track, but I can go on forever when it comes to sexism in Japan. AKB48. Maid cafes. Prostitution. Censorship. If you want a discussion, feel free to PM me because I'm all ears.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is, _yeah_, Japan is sexist, therefore my story is going to incorporate that. Animes and mangas sometimes portray this magical world where everyone is okay with everything, and sure, maybe the new millennials might have that mentality, but a good portion of Japan's populations are older people with older beliefs. These 60+ people who take up 33% of Japan's population are also the ones in power in the government, so you get the idea.

Also boys making girlfriend bentos? Pffft, please. Boys? Cooking? For _girls_? Haah, maybe it'll be the norm in a decade or so, but not yet, anon. Not yet.

**Chapter Analysis:**

A reviewer before mentioned that Nanoka has softened a lot after dating Tobio. She used to be pretty snippy with him, and now she's all gooey and lets him walk all over her. My reasoning for this is that Nanoka has never dated before, and therefore does not know what to do with this new status despite the same players. Before Tobio and Nanoka were Kouhai-senpai, a familiar setting that Nanoka knows the rules to. Boyfriend-girlfriend however, is totally foreign. Nanoka turns to internet forums and relationship columns in her girl magazines and they all give conflicting advice, further confusing the already insecure girl. She unconsciously kowtows to Tobio because she wants someone else to be the leader in their relationship. Obviously, this ended pretty badly since Tobio's ease with Nanoka was growing at this time, and therefore his increasing possessiveness and selfishness was left unchecked to fester until Nanoka finally had her breaking point.

For me, Tobio is the type of character who doesn't know how to climb out of holes he accidentally digs himself into. This is obvious from how he was ostracized from his teammates in his third year of middle school, but he never tried to resolve this discrepancy between him and the rest of the team by talking it out. He kind of just… wallowed in self pity. It was also how he got himself into the situation by disregarding his teammates abilities and feelings. Instead of trying to figure out why he and the wing spikers were out of sync, he simply blamed them for not being good enough, and not realizing that the problem is in himself. I wanted to show in this chapter that Tobio has trouble seeing himself as the perpetrator in any situation. He often sees himself as the victim, and Nanoka struggles to get him to understand that the fight they had had an underlying cause in both of them and not just her.

After their fight, Nanoka finally regains her footing. She realizes that boyfriend-Tobio is still the same as kouhai-Tobio, annoying, adorable, and disgustingly high-maintenance, and now she is back to her Chapter 1-2 self, snarky, grimacy, and annoyed at default.

Sorry for those who were expecting some screen time for Oikawa and Iwaizumi. I'll try to squeeze them into the next chapter.

**Poll Update:**

53% Iwaizumi Hajime

30% Oikawa Tooru

7% Kageyama Tobio

7% Kichijou Chiharu

Thank you for reading!

donut


	11. Summer Date

**July**

Tooru is certain of several things. He is certain that his hair is brown and that his birthday is coming up. He is certain that his childhood friend is Iwaizumi Hajime and that his favorite food is milk bread. He is certain of the way his right knee aches on rainy days like an arthritic old geezer and how his serves are subpar when compared to a genius.

Tooru is also certain that Arakita Nanoka is in over her head and should dump Kageyama Tobio before it comes back to bite her in the ass.

Tooru did not always have that opinion; at one point he considered Nanoka just as annoying as Tobio, with her snarky comments and squeaks of surprise at everything that startles her (and _everything_ startles her). He thought they were perfect for eachother. But it was really his bias and general dislike of Tobio that extended to his girlfriend that was at fault for such negative opinion.

Tooru teased ('borderline bullying', Iwa-chan will remark) Nanoka with veiled contempt and found small satisfaction in her embarrassed flushes and painful grimaces. But his mood always soured the moment Tobio came into the picture, ruining the heart-racing push pull dynamic he had going. Nanoka is always so soft on Tobio, it is as if she holds him on a pedestal and normal rules do not apply to the natural born setter. If Nanoka is sweet to Tooru, she is a triple sundae with a pudding on top to Tobio.

Ugh, love.

Tooru never understood it before, and he doesn't think he can understand it any time soon, seeing that volleyball takes priority over everything else in his life. Sure he's dated girls before, but he only dated them because _they asked first_. They always broke up with him after they realized that Tooru isn't that sweet charismatic boy he portrays all the time. They forget that Tooru has other emotions like irritation and annoyance, which the girls drive him to often. He has his off days. Iwaizumi knows, because he gets the worst of it, along with Mami. Now even Nanoka knows the ugly person behind his facade.

Tooru's just a teenager afraid of being hated. Being hated is such a scary thing. He'd rather be loved by everyone by being who he isn't rather than being accepted for who he is and be hated for it.

And Nanoka… Nanoka just accept that. She accepts that he doesn't do well in all his games and he can be mean sometimes. She finds his meddling annoying rather than endearing, and that makes him feel relieved because she isn't looking at him with rose tinted glasses (those are for Tobio). It means that even if the rest of the school ends up hating him for failing their volleyball team, at least he'll have a select few friends who will stick by because they know he isn't perfect.

For these people, Tooru will do anything to protect.

-.-.-

51.

She got a 51 on her English midterm.

Oh god, her mother is going to kill her. No, maim her! And then kill her!

"Hey Nanocchi, what'd you get?" Nanoka squeaks and immediately crumples her test papers to hide the big red numbers on the front page, but sighs in defeat and unfolds the creases to show Chiharu her numbers. There's no point in trying to hide anything from the nosiest person in class. "Oh, ouch. That's worse than me." Nanoka drops her face onto her desk, smushing her nose.

"Thanks," She says dryly. Chiharu slaps the black haired girl's back.

"Hey cheer up! At least you got high eighties on your other tests!" Nanoka groans, her hair falling from her ponytail and framing her face like a curtain of anguish.

"I usually get nineties on those, and mom will definitely notice. I'm dead Haru, deeeeaaaaaad." Nanoka stays silent for a few seconds before a frightening thought overcomes her. She jerks her head up, nearly colliding with the brunette who is studying her papers. "Does this mean I need to take summer supplementary classes?!" Chiharu waves her hand languidly.

"Nah girl, that's for people who failed. You passed*. By two points." Nanoka drops her head back onto the table, this time in relief. She hears the thundering of footsteps in the hallway but ignores it. It always gets rowdy during the warmer months.

"Nanoka, I'm in a pinch!"

Right. Tobio exists.

Nanoka raises her head so her chin sat on the table rather than her forehead. There is a bright red circle on her temple from the blood rush, and she grimaces at the approaching boy.

"Please don't tell me you failed algebra." She begs. There is only so much negativity she can take in a day. Tobio has just opened his mouth to say something but freezes at her words. Chiharu bursts into boisterous laughter and Nanoka squints her dark brown eyes shut and sighs through her nose, frowning deeply at her boyfriend with her half lidded eyes. "Tobio-kun…"

"It-It was only by a few points! Your tutoring really helped, I swear!" Tobio hastily defends himself. "I'll do better next time…"

"Did you pass your other classes, at least?" Nanoka asks, taking pity on him. She already knows he passed his other classes, since he only truly struggled with the math and sciences. Tobio quickly perks up like a puppy hearing a plastic wrap being opened.

"Yeah! I even got a 74 on my English!" Nanoka jerks to a stop. _Tobio-kun got a higher English test score than me. ME. HIS TUTOR._

"G-good job…" The girl grinds out between her teeth, the jealousy already manifesting in her gut. Grades are one of the few things that Nanoka does better than many of her classmates, her friends, her brother, and she takes immense pride in it. To have someone she considered a below average test taker score higher than her was a blow to the gut. Tobio powers through, oblivious to her internal struggle.

"Since midterms are over, you have time to go on a date with me right?" Her boyfriend asks eagerly. Nanoka threads her delicate fingers into her hair and musses it up, pulling strands of inky hair out of the proper french braid that Chiharu has painstakingly made for her. She has been using studying as an excuse for not going out with Tobio as much, and she feels naked without the crutch. It's not as if she doesn't like dating Tobio, but he had such high expectations of her that she felt overwhelmed and relieved herself of the anxiety by avoiding him on occasion. Thankfully Tobio does not catch onto her skirting, but he has definitely gotten antsy.

"Don't you have a supplementary class since you failed algebra?" Nanoka inquires in a whisper. She doesn't want the distracted Chiharu to overhear and possibly make this situation worse. Tobio looks at her with all the seriousness a fourteen year old can muster.

"It's only a few hours for a few days a week. I can handle it." Nanoka mulls over her schedule. It _has_ been a while since their last date. Last time they went to the movies to watch an American film. Tobio had trouble keeping up with the subtitles and untranslatable nuances, but he actually shed a tear when the main character's husband died. Nanoka has never seen Tobio cry before, and she was awed that Tobio's face could gain so much..._ color_. They then went to a purikura** booth in a nearby game center and took their first photo together. Tobio unsurprisingly had no variation in facial expressions (his usual constipated and confused hybrid face) so the photos consisted of Nanoka being excessively dramatic to make up for it, making funny faces and pushing Tobio's mouth up into a forced smile. She then let out steam using the graffiti system to doodle animal features and English phrases on him until the time limit. Once the photos came out Nanoka immediately pasted them all over her belongings, while Tobio awkwardly held onto his in his clammy hands until finally deciding to put them between the pages of his volleyball magazine for safekeeping.

Afterwards they went to a small Italian cafe and the setter popped a peculiar question when their food arrives.

"_Are you good with kids?" Tobio asks. Nanoka blinks at the question. She never really thought about it…_

"_I guess so. I babysat the neighbor's kids a lot before they hired a professional nanny." Nanoka hums and twirls her fork in her pasta. "Why do you ask?" Tobio doesn't answer, but stares deeply into his alfredo like it has the secret tossing techniques hidden in the sauce. Nanoka slowly lowers her fork from her mouth after noticing his silence. _Oh, did I say something wrong? Wait, why did he even ask that question? Is…is Tobio imagining a future with me? Married and living in a 2LDK***? With a kid nonetheless?! _Nanoka starts to sweat as her brain goes haywire when Tobio finally opens his mouth._

"_My mom's pregnant." Steam evaporates from Nanoka's head and her face returns to its normal pale hue._

"_Oh." As an afterthought she adds, "Congratulations?" Tobio shrugs and picks up his fork, finally digging into his cooling dinner. It takes Nanoka a while to figure out what Tobio was probably trying to say. _

_Tobio has been an only child his whole life. He's never had to share his toys or his parent's attention, and he was never taken care of by an older sibling or had to do the babysitting himself. To get a younger sibling with such a large age gap, Tobio will most likely be more of a role model than a friend to the child. Tobio does not have enough (or any) friends to share their experiences with him of the woes of being a sibling, so he has absolutely no idea what it is like. He doesn't even know what kind of questions to ask Nanoka. Not that Nanoka can help much, seeing that she's the baby sibling herself. _

_After much hesitation, Nanoka reaches over and touches Tobio's hand, stopping it's path in bringing his pasta to his mouth. "Don't overthink it. You'll know what to do when your younger sibling comes. Your parents will also help." Tobio, mouthful of garlic bread, nods vigorously. Nanoka finds satisfaction in his brighter demeanor and leans back into her seat when-_

"_Thanks. You'd be a good mom." _

In the present, Nanoka shudders from the mere thought of having children. With anyone. She isn't ready for that kind of responsibility. She still wants to go to high school and college and travel the world! Just the thought that her boyfriend is already _sort of kind of _imagining a future with her being a mom makes her uncomfortable and puts unwelcome pressure on her to be more motherly. Tobio and Chiharu eye her oddly but do not comment at her spastic movement. _Probably over-thinking something again._ They both guess correctly. Tobio awkwardly pokes Nanoka's still hand with her pencil case as if he is inspecting a carcass.

"Nanoka?" Said girl jerks out of her trance and looks at Tobio with wide eyes.

"Yes?"

"Date?" Tobio stares at her with his round imploring eyes that remind her of the begging squirrels in their local park nearby. The black haired girl gnaws her teeth on her lower lips in thought. For some reason date planning has fallen under Nanoka's jurisdiction, but she hasn't bought the summer volume of _100 Places to go on Dates with your Lover! Hot and Fun Edition!_ So she has nothing in mind to do. She has to think of something on the spot though, or Tobio will pester her until she figures it out. Thankfully, Chiharu returns from her bathroom break that Nanoka hasn't noticed her leave for.

"What are you guys talking about?" Chiharu pries naturally, sitting in the open seat next to Nanoka. Tobio snaps his mouth shut and offers a gloomy stare at Chiharu, so Nanoka quickly takes over before another argument ensues.

"I'm trying to think of a summer date plan, but I'm coming up short. Can you help me?" Nanoka pleas with a carefully exaggerated furrow of her eyebrows. Chiharu grins at her, pleased that her advice is seeked.

Chiharu is good at romance. Nanoka is good at stroking egos.

"Well why didn't you ask sooner, Nanocchi!" Chiharu shoves her hand in her messy bag and pulls out a tattered notebook full of lists- lists of date spots, good places to kiss, good timings to hug, what makeup brand is good, what foods she can eat without smearing her lipgloss. Nanoka knows Chiharu treats this notebook like her bible. "Some summer date spot staples are amusement parks, water parks, pools, festivals, oh, and beaches! Beaches are fun, Nanocchi!" Something sparks in Tobio's eyes and he shoves his hand in his own bag, pulling out a tattered July edition of _Volleyball Monthly_.

"There's a beach volleyball competition going on during the weekends on Karasuno Beach." Tobio states, showing them photos of idyllic sands and volleyball players with chiseled abs. Chiharu squeals.

"Hey, it's a win-win situation! Tobio can enjoy volleyball _and_ you get the beach!" Chiharu beams. Nanoka stares at the magazine in Tobio's hand apprehensively as the memories of the last volleyball game she attended resurfaces.

"I...I don't know." Nanoka stutters, afraid to outright reject the idea. It shouldn't be that bad, right? Tobio is actually really enthusiastic about going out with her for once, and who is she to rain on his parade? It's beach volleyball and anyone can play, so competitiveness will probably not be that high? "I guess we can go." Tobio's face brightens and his beam rivals Chiharu's, and Nanoka's worries melt away. She offers a chaste smile back at her best friend and boyfriend.

-.-.-

"Nanoka, where are you going? I thought I told you we're cleaning up Yasutomo's room today."

Nanoka freezes in place in the hallway at her mother's voice. She is almost at the door, but it seems like her plan of a quiet escape is foiled. She edges towards her shoes as her mother appears from behind the living room entrance.

"I'm meeting Chiharu, mom. We're going to study together." The daughter answers. Her mom will be less likely to object if she is doing something academic, since the older Arakita raised hell when she saw Nanoka's school rankings. She threatened to assign tutors until Nanoka broke down in tears and promised she'll study harder. Her mother, in all her apron and feather duster glory, scrutinised her outfit.

"In your swimsuit?" Nanoka's mother asks with an eyebrow raised. Nanoka hastily yanks at her french terry hoodie, hiding the bright pink strap of her swimsuit.

"Since it's hot, we're going to the public pool afterwards. To cool down." Nanoka rattles out. She doesn't make eye contact. She read somewhere that not making eye contact is a telltale sign of a liar but she can't help it-if she looks into her mother's eyes, she'll blurt it all out.

Her mother stares her down, but finally lowers her crossed arms with a heavy sigh. Nanoka lets out a shaky breath of relief.

"Get home before it gets dark." Nanoka speedily puts her shoes on and escapes the stuffy home before her mother voices any other objections.

"Bye mom!" Nanoka jogs a few extra blocks in case her mother comes out before walking at a leisurely pace. Her mother would have usually nagged her a lot more, but after they got the phonecall from Hakone Junior High, her mother has been moping around the house, creating a gloomy and uncomfortable environment. Her mother won't tell her details, but from what she has gathered, her older brother has gotten into a brawl with his baseball teammates, and was promptly kicked off his team. The year before, Yasutomo tore his UCL during practice. While he recovered and was back on the field, his pitches were never the same. Their mother refused to acknowledge the damage done and continued to pour pressure on her son. Since his famous pitches are now less than average quality, his team was probably peer pressuring him to quit on his own.

_It was about time he snapped. Yasutomo isn't a team sportsman anyway._ Nanoka snorts to herself, remembering all the times Yasutomo bullied her growing up. _I bet he doesn't even have any real friends. _The black haired girl stops to readjust her sunhat. _Hey, looks like Tobio and Yasutomo have another thing in common. Ha!_ Nanoka comes to a stop at a light. _Wait, does that mean Yasutomo's coming home? I think he was suspended for like a week because his teammate went to the hospital. _She grimaces, but shakes her head of negative thoughts. _Whatever, I'll deal with it when it happens. I'm going to the beach! Think happy things! _

Nanoka safely gets to the station where she has promised to meet up with Tobio, and while she is 5 minutes early, Tobio is already there. She blinks at him. Tobio is in his school jersey with a gym bag. Out of all the clothes he could wear...

"Tobio-kun, we're going to the beach, not a gym. What's with the outfit and bag?" Nanoka asks, a hysteric edge to her voice. The date hasn't even started and it's already not going as planned. Tobio opens the bag and shows her the insides. There's water bottles and his own volleyball among other volleyball-y things.

"Since a lot of people have been playing, their volleyball might be deflated. It'll affect how I toss." Tobio explains. When he notices Nanoka glaring at his jersey, he pulls at his waistband. "Look, I'm wearing my swim trunks underne-" Nanoka bristles.

"Oh my god, don't strip here!" Nanoka hisses like a wet cat. Tobio freezes, then slowly pulls his pants back up.

"...okay." Nanoka slaps her own face and drags her hand down in exasperation.

"You can change into your swimsuit at the beach where everyone else is also in their swimsuits, okay? I know you're excited, but be patient." Tobio nods like a little toddler told he can't eat the earthworm he fished out from the mud.

"Kay." Together they board the train towards the beach. Nanoka is fidgeting with her phone when Tobio curiously peers at her screen.

"That's from last time." Tobio remarks. Nanoka smirks. Her phone background is the digital copy of one of their purikaras.

"Cool isn't it? While I was doodling I set it so they sent me a digital copy to my phone. Do you want one?" Tobio blushes, possibly at the thought of having Nanoka on his phone background.

"N-no!" Nanoka's smile immediately drops at the rejection and Tobio panics. "Er, uh, maybe later?" Seeing through the blatant empty promise, Nanoka nods, smiling thinly.

"Sure."

Their train car finally exits the underground and the couple is washed in bright sunlight. Nanoka immediately peers out the window and opens her mouth in childish awe. The last time Nanoka has went to the ocean has been years ago, and her only memories of the trip is of desperately clinging to her brother's back in fear of being washed away into the deep never ending waters. Seeing it again, this time willingly, with Tobio at her side, sends a rush of goosebumps up her arm, caused by the sudden adrenaline rush.

"Tobio-kun, it's the ocean." Nanoka quietly exclaims, nudging at her boyfriend with her elbow. Tobio, equally awed, gapes alongside her.

"Whoa, it's so big." Both jittery with excitement and childish glee, they bolt out of the train car the moment the doors open. They race down to the sand, Tobio often needing to hop in place to wait for Nanoka to catch up. It takes them awhile to locate where the volleyball tournaments were being held, but soon they see a crowd of swimsuit clad people and naturally gravitate towards them. It looks as organized as a free for all volleyball tournament can get, with three sets of worn volleyball nets of different heights and a scoreboard drawn messily in the sand. The people playing have varying body shapes and skills, which relieves Nanoka immensely. She tugs at Tobio's arm.

"Why don't we put down our stuff and play in the water a little before entering our names?" Nanoka suggests. Her feet are already aching from the short walk from the broadwalk to the tournament location, and she desperately wants to put their bags down. Tobio gives her one of the biggest pouts she has seen yet, and Nanoka immediately yields to the power of the pout. "Okay, let's volleyball first, then play in the water. Deal?" The question falls on deaf ears as Tobio has already ran to the person who looked most official like in his sleeveless hoodie and cheap whistle. Nanoka sighs and shuffles off to find a place to drag hers and Tobio's unexpectedly heavy gym bag.

Hopefully it won't get too crazy.

-.-.-

Culture Notes

**Passing Grade*:** Chiharu remarks that 51 is a passing grade. That's right, 51 is a passing grade in Japanese middle school. Or, at least in mine. 49 was the failing grade. Sucks to be in the American school system.

**Purikura**:** A popular photobooth in Japan where you can choose several different backgrounds and use a touch screen to doodle on the photos you just took, and when you're done, it spits it out on a sticker sheet. Modern purikuras can now add 'natural' makeup, make your legs longer, enlarge your eyes, etc. They're fun and also terrifying.

**LDK***: **LDK stand for Living Room, Dining Room, and Kitchen. The number in front of it signifies how many bedrooms there are. 2LDK that Nanoka is imagining has two bedrooms. What a tame fantasy future.

-.-.-

Author's Note

Man, don't you just hate it when your relatively new boyfriend mentions marriage and children?

_The Daily Struggles of Nanoka Arakita_ has hit ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS! Thank you everyone that has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! I appreciate it, and knowing that people out there appreciate what I upload keeps me going. Congrats to _Meilinfan_ for being my hundredth reviewer! You are granted a prompt for the next chapter! If anyone else also has a prompt, feel free to PM me them, or add it to your review. I might add them to other chapters if I can work with it!

Till next time,

donut


	12. Nice Nice

Tobio waltzes up to the man with the whistle standing on the side with his hairy arms crossed, the path of his gaze obscured with his off-brand sunglasses. Tobio is growing, but he is still dwarfed by the gruff man when the middle schooler stands in front of him.

"I'm here to sign up for the volleyball tournament." Tobio announces, and the way he carries himself eerily looks like a karate student challenging a dojo master for their sign*. His firm chest is puffed out and his slim shoulders squared up. The man glances down (or maybe it was just a reflection of the sunglasses?) to Tobio and snorts.

"What tier." The man's question sounds more like a statement, further intimidating the middle schooler before him. Nanoka sidles up next to him after returning from finding a safe spot to leave their bags. She quietly reads the air between the males and she turns to the higher ranked person, in this case, the referee. She cocks her head to the side, her hair bouncing cutely in it's polka-dot scrunchie, emphasizing her youth and naivety.

"Tobio-kun is on a school volleyball team, but I'm new. What tier do you recommend?" Nanoka asks, putting her hand on Tobio's elbow. The man scrutinizes them before jerking his scruffy chin to the side.

"Try the advanced." Tobio's mouth opens and Nanoka grabs the flesh of Tobio's side and twists viciously, effectively shutting him up. Nanoka smiles and starts dragging her temporarily incapacitated boyfriend to where the man indicated.

"Thanks!" After walking far enough to not be within hearing distance, Tobio finally looks up from his hunched over crab walking.

"But Nanoka, I don't want to play advanced," Tobio whimpers. "I want to play pro." Nanoka levels a glare at him that makes him cower and grip his aching side. She sighs and rubs at her forehead, trying to relax her already tense face. _Patience._

"And I don't, so we're making a compromise, Tobio-kun. We're a really unbalanced team, so we need to play against people who are somewhere in the middle," Nanoka pats Tobio's chest as if to thump the knowledge into his body. "Does that make sense?" Tobio frowns, but eventually nods. "Good. Now let's go sign up."

Nanoka and Tobio wait roughly fifteen minutes before their turn, and Tobio takes that time to analyze and compartmentalize his opponents' favored moves and techniques. Tobio must be extra cautious during this game, since there are a lot more variables than he will like. First of all, he's playing with Nanoka, who he has no prior experience playing with, and therefore have no idea how she plays. Second, Nanoka doesn't play volleyball, therefore her abilities to perform will be subpar anyway. Third, he was unable to do any prior research on the players so he must do with what he is currently witnessing. There are other things like sand and wind, but Tobio finds what he listed his top priority. He must work slow with Nanoka the first few sets to gauge how she plays, and work from there. The level of the players in this tier seem slow compared to his team mates and usual opponents, so he is not that worried about losing to them.

"Next match, Arakita and Kageyama versus Yamato and Wakamatsu," The referee for the advanced tier drones. Her voice is pleasantly deep for her petite body. "Please come to the court." Tobio excitedly unzips his school jersey and start stripping, ignoring the teasing cat calls and whistles from their older audience. Nanoka is immediately alert of the stares and decides to keep her hoodie on. Tobio gives her a quizzical side glance.

"Why aren't you taking your clothes off? It's going to weigh you down along with the sand." Nanoka, who was massaging her thighs of the soreness from kneeling a long time, blushes self consciously. Tobio's eyes follow Nanoka's soft hands as they slide up the milky expanse of white thighs and climb up her denim cutoffs, where she stuffs them into her hoodie pockets.

"I don't feel comfortable taking them off." Nanoka grumbles. Her mom has also been nagging her about her weight gain the past few weeks, and she doesn't want Tobio to notice her flabby arms and protruding stomach. She won't put it past him to make a remark about it. Tobio stares at her (it looks like a glare to everyone else, but Nanoka knows better) for a few seconds before shrugging and going to the net. Nanoka lets out a sigh of relief before following him.

Their opponents are in their early twenties, toasted a chestnut brown from hours under the summer sun. While they carried a carefree air around them, both the man and woman towered over the middle schoolers. They will have an obvious advantage when it comes to spikes and blocks. The man, who distinctively reminds Nanoka of Kunimi, comes forward to shake their hands, the woman not far behind.

"I'm Wakamatsu, and my partner is Yamato." Tobio just purses his lips and furrows his brows, so Nanoka hastily comes forward and shakes Wakamatsu's hands a little too enthusiastically to make up for Tobio's austere attitude.

"I-I'm Arakita, and this is Tobio. Nice to meet you!" Nanoka chirps. Yamato peers at her from behind Wakamatsu, her bleach blonde hair rustling slightly from the head tilt.

"I think you're overdressed, Arakita-chan." Her remark makes Nanoka look at Yamato's outfit, which consisted of a black sports bra like top and a mismatched light blue bikini bottom. It might have been on purpose though, since Wakamatsu's surfer shorts are a similar shade of blue. Nanoka now becomes self conscious of her hoodie and shorts, but is even more afraid of taking them off and showing more skin than she is mentally prepared to. Yamato watches her quietly panic, but Wakamatsu is more merciful and quickly comes to her rescue.

"Hey, how about we start the game? I'm getting antsy!" He hollers jollily.

The referee makes them do rock-paper-scissor to determine who serves first, and Tobio wins. Nanoka hovers near the net like she has seen the Kitagawa Daiichi volleyball members do when a player serves. Tobio throws the ball in the air and makes a running start before his hand comes into contact with the ball, and the noise of flesh hitting synthetic leather rings in Nanoka's ears. She watches as the ball soars overhead, nearly touching the net. Nanoka doesn't know if it was done on purpose. She backs away from the net and Tobio joins in behind her. She can feel his building excitement rolling off of him in waves. Yamato, who was closer to the net, passes the ball easily to Wakamatsu, who sends the ball back over softly enough that Nanoka can pass it to Tobio without any hiccups. If the game continues like this, Nanoka thinks she can actually enjoy it. Low-stress, low-pressure, and their opponents seem like nice people-

"Nanoka!" Nanoka jolts out of her day dreaming at Tobio's yell, and flinches away from the volleyball that lands mere centimeters away from her. She loses balance and falls onto the sand with a 'oof!'. Wakamatsu looks at her worriedly, but when Nanoka peeks at Tobio to see his reaction, she is disappointed to see him walking off to pick up the volleyball that has rolled away. Nanoka pouts. Looks like volleyball is still the top priority in Tobio's mind. Brushing the sand off her legs, Nanoka gets up. She does a little jiggle to get the sand out of her shorts and hoodie, and starts to understand why the beach volleyball players preferred to wear tight clothing.

Tobio returns to the small court and throws the volleyball over for the Wakamatsu-Yamato team to serve. Nanoka stares at him, hoping to make eye contact, but he is too engrossed into the game to notice. She sighs and turns back to the front and rolls back and forth on her heels.

The game continues in that manner, with Wakamatsu barely taking the game seriously and Nanoka missing a ball every few points. The lack of drive and professionalism drives Tobio insane. For the last three points, Tobio spikes so aggressively Yamato actually flees from the ball.

"3-2, Team Arakita-Kageyama win this match." The small referee drolls, scrawling something on her clipboard. Team Wakamatsu-Yamato, please step down." Ignoring the referee, Wakamatsu ducks under the net and bounces up to Nanoka and Tobio to shake their hands. Yamato rolls her eyes and disappears into the crowd.

"Hey, great game! I didn't know Kageyama-kun plays so well! He's like a sleeping tiger, suddenly getting fierce like that." Wakamatsu chortles. Tobio grimaces but lets the older male shake his hand. Tobio does not think Wakamatsu deserves any compliments after that half-hearted play, so he keeps his mouth shut and lets Nanoka do all the talking.

"Thank you for accomodating to my horrible volleyball." Nanoka blushes, tucking a sweaty strand behind her ear. It is sweltering under the hoodie, and her body itching to throw it off of her. Wakamatsu laughs it off, slapping her shoulder.

"You got to start from somewhere!" He looks around and notices Yamato missing. "Huh, where'd she go? Anyway, since you seem like cool peeps, come hang out with us after you're done playing. You see that yellow beach umbrella? That's ours, well, our friend's, but we're using it-anyway, come find us later! We'll be around there." Nanoka beams at him, liking the prospect of hanging out with new people, doing beach things _not volleyball_. He waves at her until he disappears into the crowd, seeking out the now elusive Yamato. Nanoka turns to Tobio and elbow him gently.

"Why can't you be nice like him, huh?" She asks teasingly. Tobio frowns at her.

"I _am_ nice, I let you spike some balls, didn't I?" He says. Nanoka punches him where she has pinched earlier. "Oww!"

"Not that kind of nice. Like... _nice_ nice."

"_Nice_ nice?" Tobio asks quizzically. Nanoka rolls her eyes, turning her body to face the referee as she announced their next opponents.

"Ugh, nevermind. Why are you in such a bad mood anyway? You've been awfully quiet since the games started." Tobio pauses before glowing red. He didn't mean for his distaste of this predicament to be so obvious.

"I-I didn't notice. I'm sorry." Nanoka sighs and pats her boyfriend's back.

"It's okay I guess."

Tobio and Nanoka win the next two games, or well, at least Tobio does. The most Nanoka does is catch the ball Tobio passes to her and pass it back to him so he can spike it. Nanoka has taken off her hoodie during their second game, revealing her hot pink bikini top with girlish ruffles, but Tobio seems absolutely blind to Nanoka's bravery and new outfit, souring her mood as the games progress. When their third game is about to start, Nanoka waves her hand at the referee for a time out. She grabs Tobio's arm and leans into him, trying to portray obvious lethargy to the dense boy.

"Tobio-kun, we've been playing for over 30 minutes, I'm so tired. Let's take a break?" Nanoka begs. Tobio's frown is severer than ever and he shakes her off, much to her disappointment. She even pressed her chest against him like Chiharu suggested!

"We're in the top ten Nanoka, if we play 8 more games we'll be able to move to pro level!" Tobio explains to her, a manic expression on his face. Nanoka widens her eyes at him. Eight? Eight more games?! She immediately protests.

"But Tobio-kun-" Tobio turns to her, a fire in his eyes that is oh so familiar because it is the fire that is lit the moment volleyball is mentioned in a conversation, when he puts on his jersey, when he steps into the court.

"Nanoka, stop it." Tobio chastises her. Nanoka stares at him in shock. She lost Tobio to volleyball. Sure, volleyball has been in Tobio's life longer than she has, but she was his _girlfriend._ Nanoka stomps her foot down, knowing she looks childish but needing an output for her anger.

"Tobio-kun, we came here on a date," Nanoka tells him with a shaky breath. She wishes she didn't sound so hurt. "Are you going to continue playing volleyball instead of being with me?" Nanoka doesn't think her words got through to him though, since Tobio's eyes are glazed in a way where he is thinking about those stupid court formations and special spikes or whatever. Tobio answers her question by turning back to the court, as if to say he has had enough of her nonsense. Hot steam comes out of Nanoka's ears in her fury. _He chose volleyball over her! _Nanoka has to physically push up the corner of her lips with her fingers to make something that has the semblance of a smile. She picks a random bystander and pulls them into the court. "Tobio-kun, I'm going to the bathroom. Play with this person while I'm gone." Tobio gives a ghost of a nod and that is all Nanoka needs before she disappears within the crowd. Tobio sighs in relief, and immediately feels guilty for it. It really isn't Nanoka's fault that she doesn't have his stamina, speed, skill, or volleyball mindset. She, at least, makes up for it with her book smart and better people skills. If Nanoka was better at volleyball, this date would have been a lot funner. He isn't worried too much about where she went, since she probably went the the couple they just met. Where else would she go? It's okay though, once he gets to pro level and play a few games, he'll call it quits and go join her in the water. That should appease Nanoka.

-.-.-

"Mami-chan, hurry up, we're already hours late!"

"Whose fault do you think it is, stupid!"

"Shut up and help me carry all this shit!"

"Iwa-chan don't pull at my shirt, it cost more than your entire outfi-URK-"

Bystanders stare at the squabbling trio, and the rest of the rider make a wide berth when exiting the train. No one wants to get caught up in a teenage brawl.

Mami, Tooru, and Hajime were supposed to be here two hours ago, but Tooru has forgotten his swimsuit thirty minutes into the train ride and they had to make a u-turn since he refused to buy a new one at the beach, claiming they're overpriced and won't flatter his figure like the one he already owns. The local bus they were riding then has a technical malfunction where the bus doors didn't open, trapping the passengers in a tin box for over twenty minutes, watching forlornly as train by train passes by them before they were finally freed by firefighters.

Mami takes off her shoes and lets her toes sink into the sand, raising her arms overhead in a stretch. She is not looking forward to riding public transportation again on the way home. Maybe she can nag one of her older brothers to come pick them up with the family car.

"Mami!" Hajime screeches. The bus malfunctions and the usually placative Mami ignoring an increasingly irritating Tooru has taken it's toll on the boy. He needs to get onto a volleyball court to let that out, stat.

"Coming, coming." She puts her waterproof sandals back on and returns to the boys, grabbing the beach towels and her own bag, letting the boys wrangle the cooler and large beach umbrella. Eager to redeem himself, Tooru points to their left, claiming that the volleyball tournament is that way. Hajime and Nanoka exchange a look, but follow along anyway, too tired to argue with their team captain.

"Man, I wish Nanoka-chan could have made it," Mami whines, kicking up the sand as she walked. It was nice having another girl around during their last practice match. "Too bad she had a date with Kageyama-kun." Tooru rolls his eyes dramatically.

"It's more babysitting than a date, if you ask me-"

"No one asked you." Mami and Hajime immediately interject together. Tooru falls dramatically to the ground, pretending to be fatally shot in the chest. His friends ignore his antics, so he is forced to scramble after them when they continue on without him. It's old news that Tooru doesn't like Nanoka dating Tobio. He claims it's out of concern, but Mami thinks it's just because he doesn't want Tobio to have nice things. Hajime thinks it's because Tooru is jealous that Tobio has had a girlfriend for longer than Tooru ever had, and is trying to break them up. Both are not exactly wrong, but Tooru is a complicated creature with complicated feelings.

After five minutes of walking it does not take a genius to figure out that Tooru has, once again, lengthened their trip by sending them off to the wrong direction. Tooru wisely places Mami between him and his best-friend-soon-to-be-murderer, but it does not protect him from the wrathful aura emitted by the wing spiker.

There is a little shack with banners advertising shaved ice and ice cream a little off to the side that Tooru notices, and the setter offers to buy Mami and Hajime something cold as a 'pick-me-up'. Not to bribe them to be less irritated at him. Nope.

Mami, the angel of volleyball, amicably asks for a strawberry syrup shaved ice, while Hajime just glowers at him. Tooru actually feels guilty, since Hajime has been looking forward to this outing a lot, and Tooru has been ruining it for him. And Hajime is being kind in his own way despite the silent treatment. He hasn't verbally blamed Tooru for their lateness and is most likely holding his complaints inside since Mami's whines are enough for two. Tooru's chest floods with warmth and appreciation for the broad shouldered boy, and he skips over to the cashier to order a strawberry shaved ice with condensed milk, a Hokkaido milk** ice cream, and Hajime's timeless favorite, matcha shaved ice with coffee jelly and extra red bean paste on the side. Tooru takes his best friend status very seriously.

While waiting for his order, the brunet casually observes the 'interior' of the shack. The only actual structure consists of the kitchen and the cashier counter, and the seating area is basically an open area with bamboo mats strung up above them to act as a makeshift shade. There is some tarp rolled up next to the shack, most likely used for rainy days. The seats and tables are the cheap plastic kind you buy at any home goods store, and some are even reinforced with duct tape. Talk about shabby. Tooru counts six patrons, not including his huddle of friends or himself. Despite it being summer, business does not seem to be going well. _ What if their food is so bad Iwa-chan and Mami become even more mad at me?! _Tooru's eyes widen at the thought and wonders if it's too late to cancel his order and take his friends elsewhere, but he can see in the not-so-hidden kitchen that the cook was already done with two thirds of their order. _If it actually turns out to be bad, I guess I'll just have to eat all of it. I bet Iwa-chan will feel better after I get a brain freeze and diarrhea. _Tooru muses._ Actually, not the diarrhea, since he'll probably be the one who'll have to take me to a bathroom._

"Hey Arakita-chan, cheer up, the ice cream is melting because you're so sad!" Tooru's thoughts are interjected by a boisterous deep voice. _His girlfriend probably caught him looking at other girls-wait, Arakita?_ Tooru immediately whips his head towards the trio huddled at the other end of the restaurant. An frivolous looking adult male is hunched over a smaller figure, and when Tooru leans slightly to the left, it is indeed Nanoka staring pitifully down at her melting ice cream. There is another adult with them, but she is looking disinterested into the horizon so he doesn't pay her much mind.

"Stop treating me like a baby." Nanoka mumbles, her voice sullen and dejected. Tooru narrows his eyes, feeling progressively protective over his kouhai as he watches her interact with the man possibly twice her age. What does this man want with Nanoka? Is he hitting on her? Is he bribing her with ice cream? Doesn't he know she's underage? Leave her alone-

"Excuse me?" Tooru slaps his hand to his mouth. _Oops. I said that out loud. _The protectiveness that puffed out his chest dissipates and self preservation kicks in. He quietly prays. While he considers himself fit, the man is nearly twice his width and he quite liked his face without bruises, thank you very much. _Please don't pick a fight with me, please don't pick a fight with me, please don't-_

"...Oikawa-senpai?" Ah, his darling savior Nanoka. This is why Tooru loves girls. The towering man's eyes quickly dart down to Nanoka, then the woman sitting across of them (when did she turn around to face him? Oh, she has nice boobs.), and finally back to Tooru, outstaring him as if to try to gauge his masculinity and the worthiness of his presence. The man juts out his chin in an almost smug, childish move of displaying superiority.

"You know him, Arakita-chan?" He asks. He cracks his knuckles, just to emphasize the fact that he can beat him to a pulp in a second. Tooru gives Nanoka a deer-in-headlights look, sweating like a waterfall.

"What's going on here?" A voice calls out from behind Tooru, and Hajime approaches Tooru's back. When he sees the man before his best friend looking like a bird competing in a mating ritual, Hajime cracks his neck menacingly and stands as tall as he can, ignoring Tooru's sign language of 'STOP, ABORT, GO AWAY'. "Who's this?" The adult scoffs under his breath, finding the fact that middle schoolers were trying to out-testosterone him.

"I asked first, little kids." Tooru lets out a squeak and tackles Hajime before Hajime can tackle the stranger. Nanoka finally _finally _pipes up from the back, looking exasperated. The blonde woman expresses the same distaste of the dick-measuring contest.

"Is this necessary? Wakamatsu-san, they're my senpais. Leave them alone." Nanoka groans. The woman mirrors the look to Wakamatsu.

"They're children, Hiro, leave them alone." Chastised by both of the females in his party, Wakamatsu wisely deflates and and backs off.

"Ohhh fiiine. Whatever. Eat your ice cream Nanoka, it's liquid cream now." Wakamatsu sits on the end of the table next to Nanoka, and the girl shuffles her seat closer to him.

"You guys should sit with us. Yamato-san and Wakamatsu-san are college volleyball players. Maybe you can talk about volleyball things." Just as Nanoka expected, Tooru and Hajime immediately perk up at the v-word. They eagerly sit at the table while Nanoka starts pushing around the plastic spoon in her plastic bowl of goop.

"What college do you play for? What's your position? How long have you been practicing?" Tooru and Hajime's questions jumble together as they interrogated Wakamatsu. Nanoka rolls her eyes. If boys bond over anything, it's sports.

Mami floats over after realizing that her boys aren't coming back, and is pleasantly surprised at Nanoka's presence, but also confused. She is sitting between Yamato and Nanoka, across from the squabbling and yelling boys. Sparing Yamato a glance to make sure she's not paying attention, Mami leans towards Nanoka.

"What happened to your date with Tobio?" Mami asks in concern. Nanoka freezes momentarily before sighing, letting her whole body sink into the worn out lawn chair.

"We were playing volleyball and I got tired, so I left." Mami looks at her, scandalized.

"At the volleyball tournament? And he_ kept playing without you_?" Neither girls notice that the boy's conversations have died down and they were now not so subtly eavesdropping. Yamato gives them all a raised eyebrow, but says nothing.

"I didn't want to ruin his fun." Mami growls. She's always tried to be fair in her treatment of all the team members under her care (Hajime and Tooru don't count), but Tobio is the most handful of all of them. He constantly pushes the boundaries of seniority within the team, and what's worse is that he doesn't _realize what he is doing is wrong_. That it's not in his place to correct the stance of the vice captain, or suggest swapping a player with someone on the bench, or tell Mami to order the orange energy drink because he doesn't like the taste of the fruit punch one. He has his bright moments, like when the team formations he presents to coach wins them a practice match, or when he throws the entire team into a laughing fit with his oblivious or naive questions. But she does not have the patience for him when his thoughtlessness hurts _her friends._ Mami doesn't have any girl friends-she's too forward with her thoughts and her language is too masculine for her female peers to swallow. She thought of joining the girl's volleyball club, but her diagnosis of anemia*** (she already had a mild case since babyhood, but once her menstruation cycles started, it has gotten worse) prevented her from enlisting on the team, therefore losing her chance to make likeminded volleyball loving female peers. She instead took a chance with becoming the manager of the boy's volleyball team, tackling dirty laundry, a thousand permission slips, and the occasional loss of her voice from all the screaming and yelling and cheering. And she won this gamble, because she met Hajime and Tooru, who didn't treat her like some fragile porcelain doll because she was a girl, even after learning she has anemia. Suddenly, she didn't mind that she didn't have any girl friends, because she had close friends instead. When Nanoka comes into her life, it was obvious that Tooru and Hajime has already taken the meek second year under their wing, and by extension, hers. And Mami takes her job as a friend seriously. So for...for Tobio to treat Nanoka like she isn't worth her time is… it's unforgivable! Abominable! Infuriating as hell!

"That little jerk. I'm going to give him a knuckle sand-"

"Mami-san, it's fine!" Nanoka frantically grabs Mami's hands before she gets up to stampede over to the volleyball courts to cause a scene. "I was honestly not surprised. Volleyball is everything for Tobio-kun. I… I don't compare." Nanoka awkwardly looks down at her lap, fidgeting with the fringe of her cut offs. Mami looks at her sympathetically. When she is just about to open her mouth to offer comforting words, Tooru cuts her off.

"That's not true," Tooru says. The table occupants look at him, all with different expressions. Tooru soldiers on. "Kageyama cares about you a lot, Arakita. He just gets consumed by volleyball, and can't think of anything else when he's in a mode. But once it wears off, he'll come begging for your forgiveness because he doesn't want to lose you." Tooru's lack of nicknames in this statement does not go unnoticed by his friends. Tooru bites his lower lips, hesitant in saying the next words. "I… I get like that too. I stop caring about everything else and volleyball becomes all I can think about. I sometimes forget to sleep. Iwa-chan can tell you all about that. That's why I don't have a girlfriend for longer than a week." He shrugs weakly, a self deprecating smile on his face. Nanoka watches him, her expression sullen.

"Is that why you don't like Tobio-kun?" Nanoka asks, her eyebrows furrowed with thought. It is a softer version of her usual scowl. Tooru widens his eyes, taken aback by the question. "Because he reminds you of yourself?" Nanoka's large eyes reflect the sunlight that leaks through the bamboo straws above them, showing spots of white on her dirt brown eyes. Nanoka doesn't like them, but it reminds Tooru of the forest floor. Suddenly, Tooru is laughing. It is not a joyous laugh. It is the laugh of a person who finally puts the pieces together of a puzzle he didn't even know he was working on. It is the laugh of a person who found out a truth he didn't want to know. It is the laugh of a dirty little secret. The occupants of the table watch him howl, wary or concerned for his mental health. Tooru uses his index finger to wipe away a tear, and collapses into the lawn chair next to Nanoka, who jumps at the clatter it makes. He takes several deep breathes before turning to the girl in question. His eyes are clear, and so is his vision.

Tobio has a social standing. Tobio has a loving family. Tobio has the (begrudging) respect of his teammates. Tobio has a girlfriend. Tobio has everything he has or had.

"You're right, Nana-chan," Nanoka frowns at the regression of her name. "I don't like Tobio-chan. But you got the 'why' wrong." Mami leans in in anticipation, Hajime hovering behind her. He looks at each of them in turn. He cocks his head to the side, his signature charming smile on full force. "I don't like Tobio-chan because he does a better me."

-.-.-

**Culture/Side Notes**

**Stealing the Sign:**__Familiar to those who are familiar with old school dojo culture. Happened often in the manga _Ranma1/2_. It's when members of a dojo challenge a rival dojo, and steal their _kanban _(store sign? Hard to translate, but it's the wooden board, usually overlooking the dojo, that has the dojo name written in calligraphy. It's the pride and joy of the dojo.) when they defeat them. Obviously an outdated practice now since lawsuits and such exist, but it still has cultural significance.

**Hokkaido Milk:**__Hokkaido is the not-so-far-away Alaska of Japan. While not always cold, the winters are brutal. And they make hella good milk.

**Anemia: **Not a culture note, but a general note. Anemia is a blood disease where you don't have as much red blood cells in your bloodstream, which means you have a harder time getting oxygen where you need it. When exercising, muscles use more oxygen, so having exercising while anemic can lead to lethargy, lactic acidosis, and your body will take longer to recover from the exercise. Mami has a mild case that is controllable with iron supplements among other medications.

-.-.-

**Author's Note**

This was supposed to be 3000 words, but here we are, 2000 words over. I don't regret it, since I personally enjoyed writing this chapter, especially the end. Mami is a character I relate to the most in this story.

I promised **meilinfan**__a oneshot of a day in Chiharu's life, but it didn't seem right to put it in during summer vacation since Chiharu shines the most when in school. I'll put it in once Kitagawa Daiichi is back in session. Instead, have a list of fun facts!

Nanoka is not an animal person, but her disinterest towards them seems to make them gravitate towards her.

Yasutomo and Nanoka stopped getting along when she was in 3rd grade. She doesn't know, but it was because Yasutomo's peers called him out for babying his sister and including her in their games. It is a regret Yasutomo cannot take back as it manifested into a large rift between the siblings.

Chiharu and Nanoka have taken flower arrangement and tea ceremony classes together, but only Chiharu continues to attend to this day.

Mami has four older siblings-two stepsisters and two stepbrothers. They are all older than her by at least ten years, so she feels like an only child. Chiharu has two older sisters.

Mami enjoys girlish things like Nanoka, but is too self conscious to wear them herself, and also finds most feminine things impractical ("Why does this skirt not have pockets?! I _need_ pockets!").

Chiharu isn't in love with Nanoka, as a lot of reviewers insinuated. She's just a jealous and insecure friend.

**Poll Update**

Hajime in the lead with 37 votes, followed by Tooru with 20, Tobio with 4 (lmao).

Thank you for reading! Lots of love,

donut


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